
Designed by John Bard, Ph : !a 



Ambrolvped by Bankina & Clark. Norfolk 



MONUMENT TO BE ERECTED BY THE O'TIZESS OP HOTOLK, IN MEMORY OF THE MAYOR, THE 
PRESIDENT OP THE HOWARD ASSOCIATION, THE CLERGY , PHYSICIA NS, AND OTBER9 WHO DIED AT TB 
POST OP DUTY DURING THE GREAT PESTILENCE IN 1855. — See page 310. 



THE 

GREAT PESTILENCE IN VIRGINIA; 

BEING 

§n pstoucal gttomit 

OK THE 

ORIGIN, GENERAL CHARACTER, AND RAVAGES 

OF THE 

YELLOW FEVER 

IN 

NORFOLK AND PORTSMOUTH IN 1855 ; 

TOGETHER 

WITH SKETCHES OF SOME OF THE VICTIMS, INCIDENTS OF 

THE SCOEPvGE, ETC. 



BY jf 

WILLIAM S. FORREST, 

AUTHOR OF THE- "HISTORY OF NORFOLK AND ITS VICINITY. 



"Death, repulsive king, tiuneiron rule is terrible. 



NEW YORK : <<cy 

DERBY & JACKSO 
PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
CINCINNATI :■ H. W. DERBY & CO. 

1856. 









** 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year of our Lord 1856, by 

WILLIAM S. FOREEST; 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Eastern District of Virginia. 



MILLER & HOLMAN, 

Printers and Stereotypers, N. Y. 



PREFACE. 



When the pestilence, which recently desolated 
the two adjacent sister sea-port cities of Virginia, 
had ceased its ravages ; when the fearful death- 
storm, that raged so furiously, had swept by, a 
general and very reasonable desire was expressed 
to have an authentic account of the great calamity 
— a reliable record of Death's relentless sway — 
especially during those memorable months — Au- 
gust, September, and October, 1855. 

Among others, the writer, who witnessed the 
almost unequaled fury of the disease, was kindly 
urged to undertake the task. But, imperative 
engagements occupying nearly every moment of 
his time during the day, he found that it would 
be almost impossible to accomplish so important 



l v PREFACE. 



a work without relinquishing other necessary 
efforts, or -delaying its completion beyond the 
limits of a reasonable period. He determined, 
however, notwithstanding the difficulties pre- 
sented, to prepare a work on the subject, em- 
bracing an account of the origin, frightful pro- 
gress, and terrible effects of the dreadful malady; 
together with various incidents, facts, opinions, 
and suggestions relative to the scourge, written 
during, and subsequent to, that memorable time 
of terror, sudden death, and woe. 

It was deemed judicious to append, also, suit- 
able tributary sketches of some of the victims of 
the destroyer, w T hose virtues and exalted character 
justly entitle them to the permanent remembrance 
of the living — while they sleep quietly in the 
grave to which their sallow remains were hurried 
during the rage of the mysterious disease. 

It will be found that extracts from ably-written 
accounts of the pestilence, by other pens, have 
been given a place. These sketches, it is believed, 
will add interest and value to the work, inasmuch 
as they assist in forming a true description of the 



PREFACE. V 

calamity, as viewed by different observers, and 
from various points of observation. 

If, in recording the noble, heroic, and generous 
deeds of those who braved the terrors of the 
scourge, and who labored so faithfully in assisting 
and relieving their fellow-men, in nursing and 
watching the sick, in shrouding and burying the 
pestilent dead, some among the meritorious are 
not mentioned, the omission must be considered 
as unavoidable. Time and space were insufficient 
for all, or half that could be written. 

The result of his labor is before a discriminating 
public, and the writer confidently trusts that his 
work will be found to possess at least a melan- 
choly interest, and. that it will impart useful in- 
formation to the living, both at home and abroad, 
relative to the appalling tornado of disease and 
death that raged throughout the length and 
breadth of two cities of the Old Dominion, crush- 
ing down, in its reckless course, people of all 
ages, all classes, and every condition — the rich and 
the poor, the learned and the ignorant, the fair 
and the lovely — leaving in its blood-stained track 



VI PREFACE. 

the lifeless and corruptive remains of the strong 
and the weak, the young, the vigorous, and the 
beautiful, as well as of the old and decrepit ; or 
hastily and promiscuously crowding them, as it 
were, in one common vortex of death and silence. 

W. S. F. 

Norfolk, July, 1856. 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGB 

The Pestilence — Its Severity and Fearful Ravages — The 
Frightful work of Death-r-Burial of the Dead — Aid from 
abroad — Sympathy for the Afflicted Cities .... 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Origin of the Fever — Different Theories — The Ben Frank- 
lin — Healthfulness of Norfolk and Portsmouth — The first 
Cases — False Assertions and Slanders — Condition of the 
Infected Steamer — The Commencement and Progress of 
the Disease 6 

CHAPTER III. 

Statements relative to the Steamer Ben Franklin — A great 
Error and its Calamitous Results 12 

CHAPTER IV. 

Additional facts with regard to the Infected Steamer' — The 
Spread of the Fever — Some of the earliest Yictims — For- 
mer Healthfulness of Norfolk and Portsmouth ... 22 

CHAPTER Y. 

Symptoms of the Yellow Fever — Remedies and Treatment 
—Effects of the Malady— The Plague Fly ... . 29 

CHAPTER VI. 

Norfolk before the Fever — General Appearance of the City 
and its Vicinity — The Climate — Norfolk and Portsmouth 
Harbor 34 



Vlll CONTEXTS. 

PAGB 

CHAPTER Til. 
Commencement and Progress of the Fever in the City — 
Barry's Row in Ruins — The flight of the Citizens — 
Effects of the Scourge — Examples of true Benevolence and 
Heroism 39 

CHAPTER Till. 

The Fever increasing — The Howard Association Organized 
— The Scourge in Portsmouth — The Stampede — The 
Town Deserted — The Panic — Intercourse with other 
Places Prohibited — Inhosoitalitv towards the Afflicted 
Cities — Noble conduct of the Citizens of Northampton — 
Matthews and Princess Anne Counties — Fredericksburg 
— Governor Wise invites the People to come over to his 
Home in Accomac 46 

CHAPTER IX. 
Miss Andrews arrives,, and offers her Services as Nurse for 
the Sick — Arrival of Physicians and Nurses — The Dis- 
ease rages awfully, and becomes Epidemic throughout 
the City — Nature and Symptoms of the Disease — The 
Howard Association of Norfolk, and the Relief Commit- 
tee of Portsmouth— Frightful Mortality — Hasty Burial 
of the Dead . . . 53 

CHAPTER X. 

Donations from Abroad— Officers of the Howard Associa- 
tion—The Fury of the Scourge — The Hospital at Lam- 
bert's Point — Dr. Wilson — True Heroism — Provisions 
getting scarce— The Market— Description of the City at 
Night — Incidents of the Pestilence — The Dying and the 

t Dead . . . - 56 

CHAPTER XL 

The Fever in Portsmouth— The Town before the Fever— 
The Infected Tessel— The Weather— Help from Abroad 



CONTENTS. IX 

PAGE 

— Noble Conduct — The Transcript Office closes — Promi- 
nent Laborers among; the Sick aud Dead — True Heroism 
—The Navy Yard 63 

CHAPTER XII. 

Address in behalf of the Orphans — The Physicians — The 
Clergy — Commodore McKeever — Meeting of Physicians 
— Resolutions — Letter from the acting Mayor — The U. S. 
Naval Hospital — Death and Coffins — The Council of 
Portsmouth — The Mayor of the Town ill of the 
Fever 72 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The first Week in September — Fearful Mortality — Accumu- 
lation of Corpses — Incidents of the Pestilence — Lamenta- 
tion and Mourning — The Christian's Death-bed and Grave 
— The rapid Work of Death and Burial — Promiscuous 
Interment — Awful state of Affairs — The Putrefying 
Corpses lie Unburied — Death doing his Work fearfully at 
Night— The Roll of Death 80 

CHAPTER XIY. 

The lamentable Condition of the City — The Previous Hap- 
py and Prosperous state of Affairs in N< rfolk and Ports- 
mouth — Eloquent and Thrilling Descriptions of the 
Scourge 91 

CHAPTER XY. 

Correspondence — The Fever still rages fearfully — Sad Evi- 
dences of the Reign of the Pestilence — The Colored 
People — Howard Association — Nature still Beautiful — 
The Work of the Undertakers goes on rapidly — The Grave- 
yards filling up — A Splendid Morning — The Harbor 
Deserted — The Silence of the Church-bells — The Clergy 
— The Sabbaths of the Pestilence — Burying in Pits — 
Mistakes in Burying the Dead — Hasty Interments , . 101 



• CONTENTS. 

* PAGS 

CHAPTER XVI. 
A Day and Night of Beauty— The Death-Silence Disturbed 
by the Roar of Cannon and the Toll of a Bell— Deserted 
Mansions— Fury of the Fever— Lasting Eftects of the 
Pestilence— Respected and Valuable Residents Falling- 
Malignity of the Fever— Death of the President of the 
Howard Association, the Postmaster, and others— Heart- 
rending Scene— Reflections— The Disease rages still — Its 
Deceptive and Mysterious Character— The Weather — 
Returning Refugees— Danger of Breaking out again— 
Death of a Minister — The Grave-digger 108 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Weather — Physicians and Nurses leaving — Regret — 
The Victims — Alarm — The Disease Impartial — A Family 
Swept off — The Orphans — The Fever Disappearing — 
The Absent Citizens — Reflections — Weather — The Flight 
— Some of the Victims — Progress of the Fever — A 
Change — The City before the Scourge, etc 118 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Correspondence — The business of the Undertakers and 
Grave-diggers — Nature beautiful — Mourning — Number 
of Deaths diminishing — The Fever subsiding — The 
change — Desolation — Symptoms of the Disease — Death 
and Burial — Weather — Physicians and Nurses — A Night 
in the Pestilence — Norfolk during the Scourge — The 
Sick and the Dead — Incidents of the Pestilence — The 
Victims — A Memorable Week — The Epidemic — Death's 
fearful Work — The Weather and the Fever — Return of 
Refugees — The Career of the Pestilence and its Victims 13-^ 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Correspondence — Decrease in the Number of Patients — The 
Convalescents — The Weather — An aged Victim — Death 
holding his Sway— The Refugees— The Destroying An- 
gel—The Calamity— Death of a Minister— The Patients 



CONTENTS. XI 

PACK 

Recovering — Stores Opening — The Vacuum — The Se- 
verity of the Disease — The Grave-yards — Death of a 
Printer — A Week of Suspense — The Physicians — The 
Disease Disappearing — Reflections — The Scourge . . 14^ 

CHAPTER XX. 

Miscellaneous Correspondence — Letter from T. G. Brough- 
ton, Esq. — Removal of the Citizens — Generosity of Rich- 
mond — Letter from Rev. T. Hume — The Rush for Food — 
Increase of Deaths — Drs. Capri, Craycrou, Upshur, and 
Crow — The supply of Coffins exhausted — Desolation and 
Death — Josiah Wills — John Tunis — No Abatement of the 
Disease — The Grave-digger — A beautiful Sabbath Morn- 
ing — The Clergy suffering — The familiar "Work of Death 
and Burial — The return of the Absent — Correspondence — 
Acting Mayor of Norfolk, and F.H. Clack, Esq., of Mobile 157 

CHAPTER XXL 

Sisters of Charity — Woman at the Bedside of the Sick, Dy- 
ing, and Dead — The Period of Terror — A Procession 
with forty Coffins — The Female Nurses — Capt. Boyd — 
The Mayor and ex-Mayor — Reminiscence — A fearful re- 
ality — Help from abroad — Baltimore, Richmond, etc. — 
The Bay Line Company — Philadelphia and New York — 
National Munificence— Liberality of New York — The 
Epidemic — Alleviating circumstances — Acknowledgments 
— Gratitude — Liberality of Philadelphia — F. Webster, jr. 
— The Orphans — Statement of the Howard Association 
—The Orphans— Richmond— Rev. D. P. Wills— The 
little Ones Bereaved 169 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Incidents of the Pestilence — Strange Predictions and their 
fulfillment — Happy Death of a pious young Man — Death 
disarmed of his Sting — A thrilling scene during a Thun- 
der-storm — Woman's Love and Devotion — Death pre- 
vents a Matrimonial Alliance 187 



XU CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

• CHAPTER XXIII. 

An Afflicted Family — A Daughter's Devotion — Sudden 
Death — An Infant Sufferer — A Minister's Son wrecked 
by the Scourge — A frightful and pitiable object — Some 
of the Victims— The Birds and the Pestilence — Bill, the 
Cake-boy — The Fire-bells — The Gaslights and the Lamp- 
lighter — The City at Night — Music in the Pestilence — A 
fair Sufferer 192 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

The Southern Argus— A. F. Leonard, Esq.— Eloquent Sketch 
of the Pestilence— The Grave-yards— The Buried— The 
Bereaved — The remembered Horrors of the Scourge — 
The quietly-sleeping Dead— Condition of the City— Day 
and Night— Life and Activity returning— Words of En- 
couragement—Prospects of Norfolk and Portsmouth 203 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Mayor Woodis— William B. Ferguson 212 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Resident Clergy— Rev. William M. Jackson— Rev. An- 
thony Dibrell 219 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
Rev. James Chisholm— Rev. Francis Devlin— Rev. Wm. 
C. Bagnall — Rev. Vernon Eskridge — Rev. William 
Jones 225 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

The Resident Physicians— Drs. Silvester— Higgins— Up- 
shur— Constable— Selden .231 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Drs. Halson, Nash, Briggs, Tunstall, Silvester, jr.. and the 
resident Physicians of Portsmouth 243 



CONTENTS. X1U 

PAGE 

OHAPTEB XXX. 
Visiting Physicians and Others — The Roll of Honor — Drs. 

250 

; AFTER XXXI. 
Mrs. "Baylor — Miss Herroii 259 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Editors of the Beacon, Messrs. Cunning-ham, Gatewood, 
Robertson, etc. — Wm. D. Roberts — His Will— Wm. D. 

nv — True Heroism — Jas. H. Finch, and others . 264 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
Death of a true Hero — Spare them, God ! — The Cry 
from Virginia — The Norfolk and Portsmouth Dead — 
•h and the Church Bell — The Scourge and its Yictims 274 

CHAPTER XXXIY. 

Contagiousness and Portability of the Yellow Fever — Its 
Origin — Type — Prevention — Cause — Epidemics at Night 
— The Fever supposed by some to be Migratory . . 283 

CHAPTER XXXY. 

General Character of the Disease — Treatment — Different 
Symptoms — Remedies — Lightning and Epidemics . 293 

CHAPTER XXXYI. 

The Yellow Fever in New York — The Fever in Philadel- 
phia 306 

CHAPTER XXXYII. 
The Monument— Able Report 312 



CHAPTER I. 

THE rESTILEXCE — ITS SEVERITY AND FEARFUL RAVAGES THE 

RIGHTFUL WORE OF DEATH — BURIAL OF THE DEAD — AID FROM 
ABROAD— SYMPATHY FOR THE AFFLICTED CITIES. 

The mysterious, pestilential visitation with 
which Norfolk and Portsmouth were afflicted in 
1855, is justly classed among the severest and 
terrible calamities that ever desolated any 
community. It will be recorded upon the historic 
page as the Great Pestilexce in Virginia. 
They who witnessed and survived the fearful rava- 
ges of the yellow fever during that awful season 
of general consternation, sudden death, and hasty 
burial, will ever look back to the period with 
feelings of horror ; and they who fled precipitately 
away from their loved, peaceful, and previously 
happy and healthful homes, to avoid the hot and 
envenomed pestilential breath that was breathed 
into every room of every house, from the mer- 
chant palace down to the humblest abode of the 
sons and daughters of want and poverty, will 
think of those days and nights of powerful excite- 



2 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

ment, inexpressible anxiety, deep grief, and ago- 
nizing suspense, with the most painful emotions. 

Insidiously coming upon the healthful, prosper- 
ous, unsuspecting, and busy populace, like the 
silent and stealthy march of an unwelcome and 
blood-thirsty foe at the dead of night, the scourge 
went forth, sternly, steadily, ruthlessly— gradually 
increasing in violence, and cruelly working its 
death-havoc, hour after hour, day after day, night 
after night, week after week, and during the lapse 
of more than three long and dreary months ! 

Some idea of the destructiveness of this pesti- 
lence may be formed by comparing it with the 
great plague in London. In that plague, one in 
seventeen died; here, one in three. 

It is estimated that if the city of New York 
should be visited by a plague as fatal, the deaths 
would be twenty-five thousand a week, or a hun- 
dred thousand a month, during the period of its 
continuance!* 

Thousands hurried away from the infected towns 

^Prom the frightful scenes of disease, wretchedness, 

and woe — amazed and horror-struck at the ravages 

of the unsparing agent of destruction. And many 

* The great plague in London, in 1665, carried off 100,000 
persons, 



HI8TOBY OF THE PESTILENCE. 3 

escaped, though not a few of the unhappy reft? 
dckened, and some of the strongest and best 
were blasted by the tainting breath of the pesti- 
lence they had inhaled at their own happy fire- 
sides, and which poisoned their life-blood while in 
their own quiet chambers ; and they found a grave, 
among kind and sympathizing strangers, away 
from their silent and deserted homes. 

Families that left in one unbroken, fond, and 
cherished circle, earnestly hoping to elude the 
vigilance of the pursuer, were soon overtaken and 
deprived of one or more of the most loved and 
endeared members. The strongest link in the 
golden chain of affection, that bound them in close 
union and held inviolate the sacred family com- 
pact, was suddenly severed, and fell, shivered to 
the ground, and deep and festering wounds were 
inflicted in many a true and trusting heart that 
time cannot heal. 

As the dreadful " scourge of the tropics" passed 
along in its might and fury, in some instances 
whole families were taken, and old and venerated 
mansions were left, for months, as vacant and 
silent as a mausoleum ; and strangers have filled 
-ad vacuum. The stores were all closed, with 
scarcely an exception ; business was entirely sus- 



4 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

pended, excepting the rapid traffic by the under- 
takers and their assistants, in coffins, and the 
hasty dealing out of medicines ; and weeds grew 
in the deserted streets ; the piercing cries of dis- 
tress and the groans of the dying were heard, 
while the stern and solemn death-angel executed 
his dread commission to crush down the people. 

Many persons sought to avoid an attack of the 
fever, by carrying about their persons camphor, 
asafcetida, thieves' vinegar, etc. Numbers tried 
tobacco, often chewing, and smoking almost con- 
stantly. But nothing seemed to render the people 
proof against its ravages. 

The chill, the acute pain in the head and limbs, 
the strange, sleepy, and drowsy feeling, the con- 
tinuous burning fever, and sometimes the rapid 
beat of the heart — these symptoms, or some of 
them, came on, and, unless soon arrested and 
checked, were, in a great number of cases, quickly 
followed by delirium, the urinary suppression, and 
the fatal black vomit; and then came the last 
conflict of nature, the death-struggle itself, and 
the final closing up of the life-scene. Then the 
coffining, and, alas, at one period, the mere pro- 
miscuous boxing up of the dead, the wagoning to 
the grave-yards, the interment of the putrid and 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 5 

offensive bodies — all, all went on dolefully and 
rapidly. Indeed, at one time, there were not 
enough of the living and well to take away the 
dead.* 

Those who were not ill, were, most of them, 
busy at the bedside of their friends and relatives. 
Of such, however, there were not enough; but, 
fortunately, the necessary aid came from abroad — 
from north, south, east, and west — for the great 
heart of a mighty nation beat in powerful sympa- 
thy for the two desolated cities of Virginia. 

* •• The reader need scarcely be informed, that the yellow fever, 
wherever it has assumed the epidemic form, has fully established 
its claims to be classed among the most formidable diseases 
to which the human body is liable. This is true, whether we 
view it in reference to the changes it very generally occasions 
in the domestic arrangements of a large portion of the exposed 
population ; to the great sacrifices of interest and comfort it 
entails on these — the necessary effects of the interruption or 
cessation of commercial and other pursuits ; of the abandonment 
of home, and of the sundering of ordinary ties and occupation — 
to the perversion of the better feelings of our nature, to which 
it too often gives rise : or to the immense loss of life it occasions, 
as well, proportionately, to the amount of the population at 
large as to the number of the sick. In this latter respect, no 
disease, the black plague of the fifteenth century, and the Asiatic 
cholera in our own days excepted, can compare with it." — Djr. 
La Roche. 



CHAPTER II. 

OBIGIN OF THE FEYER DIFFERENT THEORIES THE BEN FRANK- 
LIN— HEALTHFULNESS OF NORFOLK AND PORTSMOUTH THE FIRST 

CASES FALSE ASSERTIONS AND SLANDERS CONDITION OF THE 

INFECTED STEAMER THE COMMENCEMENT AND PROGRESS OF THE 

DISEASE. 

With regard to the cause or origin of the yel- 
low fever in Norfolk and Portsmouth, there are, 
of course, different opinions. Some contend that 
the disease was of local origin ; some, that it was 
imported and introduced by the ill-fated steamer 
Ben Franklin ; while others regard it as a scourge, 
or a pestilential visitation, specially sent by the 
all wise and just Ruler, and which has been slowly 
passing along the Atlantic coast, stopping at Pen- 
sacola in 1853, and traveling thence northwardly, 
sweeping off multitudes in Charleston and Savan* 
nah in 1854, and traveling on, to desolate other 
cities of the sea-board. 

We think, to a careful observer, and especially 
to one acquainted with the facts connected with 
the question, that there can seem but little mystery 



HISTORY OP THE PK-TlI.r.NCE. 7 

about the principal cause of the fever here as an 

epidemic ; indeed, it plainly appears that the in- 
fected ship was immediately instrumental in caus- 
8 calamity so terrible and wide-spread, and a 
destruction of human life so awful to contemplate. 
Norfolk and Portsmouth had been remarkably 
healthful for many years, and so continued until 
the fever broke out in Gosport — properly the 
southern portion of Portsmouth — and in the im- 
mediate vicinity of the wharf at which the steamer 
lay. The first case announced was that of one of 
the workmen, a boiler-maker, employed on the 
ship ; the first death announced, was that of the 
same individual,* and the first twenty or thirty 
cases occurred within a stone's throw of the vessel. 
A great and persevering effort has been made to 
prove that the disease had its origin here. But we 
think this cannot be done ; we think it never will 
be done. We are far beyond the latitude in which 

* A distinguished physician, connected with the U. S. Navy, 
equested to call and see the body of the first victim in Gos- 
port, as the attending physician was in some doubt with regard 
to the true nature of the case. He immediately pronounced the 
disease of which the man died the genuine yellow fever. Closing 
the nostrils and pressing the breast, as the corpse lay upon the 
bed, the black vomit gushed copiously from the mouth, greatly 
alarming some who were standing near. 



8 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

this tropical fever is produced to any great extent, 
and where it rages so fearfully. It is a slander 
upon the place to assert, that this disease, in all 
its malignity, if in any form, originated in Nor- 
folk, that the place is unhealthy, and its con- 
dition such as to produce this awful disorder, 
especially when the facts are such as to convince 
every person whose prejudice can be overcome by 
argument, and plain and truthful statements, that 
the position taken is untenable, and almost entirely 
without foundation. An able and judicious writer, 
in reply to the misstatements of a resident of anoth- 
er city, relative to the unheal thfumess of Norfolk, 
uses the following proper and forcible language : 

" When pigmy, fantastic man seeks to mingle his finite sulphur 
with the roar of heaven's artillery — when an illy-disposed (or, we 
would prefer the term, if we could conscientiously use • it, illy- 
informed) writer seeks, as it were, to make God's work even 
more destructive than it has been, in the scourged cities of Nor- 
folk and Portsmouth, by throwing out false assertions and sur- 
mises as to the general sanitary condition of these places, we 
own no obligation to restrain the contempt and disgust which we 
feel at such a course of infinitesimal enmity — and if our language, 
in speaking of the circulated slanders, is measured by the bounds 
of propriety, it is purely from respect to our readers and ourself. 

" It is the testimony of men who know — observant physicians, 
and others of experience — that Norfolk city (by which term we 
do not design to exclude Portsmouth from the association) is 
ordinarily one of the healthiest places in the world. 

" Our city is frequently the chosen summer resort of persons 



history 01 the FSSTXLEHGB. 9 

who live in unhealthy regions, who bring their families hither to 
or maintain health.*' 

The atmosphere, we admit, may have been in 
such a condition as to act as a medium for the 
dissemination of the concentrated poison dis- 
charged from the sweltering hold of the filthy 
ship, and the same, no doubt, might be said of the 
air of almost any location in warm weather; but 
it lacked this additional ingredient to render it so 
destructive to health and life. As a magazine of 
gunpowder is harmless and powerless without the 
application of fire, so the air we breathed here 
would, in all probability, have remained harmless, 
if not generally healthful, had not the poisonous 
bilge water been pumped out ; had not vent been 
given to the life-destroying gases ; had not the 
intolerable stench come forth from the capacious 
hold of the ill-fated bark that brought disease be- 
low her decks, and, no doubt, left the putrefying 
dead in her wake, to sink down to a grave among 
the seaweeds and ocean rocks, or, perchance, to 
float upon the surging billows of the deep. Had 
some sudden shift in the changing winds, ere she 
entered our noble roadstead, or before she reached 
the capes of Virginia, driven her into another port, 
and had the same fatal error been committed, or a 



10 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

like inattention or leniency been allowed, in regard 
to quarantine regulations, similar scenes of disease 
and desolation would, doubtless, have taken place 
elsewhere — a similar drama of death and • woe 
would, probably, have been witnessed in some 
other seaport city. But, for a reason known only 
to Him who " discovereth deep things out of dark- 
ness, and bringeth to light the shadow of death," 
who "increaseth the nations to destroy them," 
the ship was permitted, alas, to enter our waters, 
approach our own peaceful and happy shores, and 
the fearful scourge was allowed to desolate these 
two hitherto highly-blessed and favored cities of 
the Old Dominion.* 

The malignant malady, as before intimated, 
broke out in the immediate vicinity of the dock 
at which the infected steamer lay, and thence it 
spread through Gosport, soon reaching Portsmouth, 
thence finding its way to Norfolk, and extending to 
the furthest limits of the two towns. We may 

* "While the ship was yet far out to sea, a consultation was 
beld by the passengers, with regard to entering a port — the 
choice being between Norfolk and Baltimore. The decision was 
shown by the subsequent course of the vessel. The ship was 
bound to ]S T ew York, and the captain preferred to keep her on 
her course for that port, but yielded to the decision of a majority 
of the passengers. 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 11 

appropriately add here, that T. G. Broughton, 
. the senior editor of the Herald, and Secretary 
of the Board of Health, -stated in his paper, after 
the fever broke out in Gosport, that the cases were 
all " traceable to the steamer Ben Franklin." 

"About fifteen cases," wrote Mr. B., " remain un- 
der treatment. 

" As yet the epidemic has been confined to the 
vicinity of Page and Allen's ship-yard, which has 
been boarded up and all communication with it 
interdicted. We have not heard of any case, be- 
yond this small infected district, which was not 
contracted within it." 



CHAPTER III. 

STATEMENTS EELATIVE TO THE STEAMER BEX FRANKLIN — A GREAT 
ERROR AND ITS CALAMITOUS RESULTS. 

We proceed to give some facts, and to adduce 
some of the mass of testimony we could present 
with special reference to the steamer Ben Frank- 
lin, which we think will be read with some inter- 
est by those who entertain doubts on the subject 
of the origin and spread of the fatal epidemic. 

We have been informed by an estimable and per- 
fectly reliable gentleman, that the first engineer of 
the Ben. Franklin stated that the yellow fever 
was raging awfully at St. Thomas, when she left ; 
that soon after she sailed therefrom, some of the 
hands were taken sick of the disease, and that the 
first and second engineers were compelled to act as 
firemen as well as to work the engines of the steam- 
er, owing to sickness among the crew. But we 
are prepared to give more definite information on 
the subject. 

When the steam-ship arrived in our port (June 
7th), while she lay at quarantine, and before she 



H1ST0&Y OF THE PESTILENGB. 13 

was allowed to enter the inner harbor, and go up 
to the wharf in G-osport, some work was being 
done for the United States Government, at Fort 
Norfolk, which is only a short distance from the 
anchorage at which the ship lay. This we consider 
a fortunate circumstance, in view of the import- 
ant facts which it has enabled us to obtain with 
regard to the true sanitary condition of the vessel. 
The facts to which we allude, we have obtained 
from individuals whose business required their pre- 
sence at Fort Norfolk, and who had an oppor- 
tunity of seeing enough of what was going on to 
satisfy them and others that there were cases of 
malignant fever on board. Our information was 
obtained from Messrs. William Harper and Henry 
Neavill, long and favorably known in Portsmouth, 
as gentlemen of undoubted veracity ; also from 
Mr. Henry Foreman, of Norfolk county ; and we 
could, if necessary, add the concurrent testimony 
of twenty more. 

Mr. Harper and others went out to the ship for 
the purpose of getting West India fruit, observing 
quantities in a decayed state floating in the river, 
and they were informed by some of the crew that 
there were cases of the yellow fever on board , of 
the most fatal type. On asking for the mate, they 



14 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

were told that lie was ill of the disease. A few 
days after this, they noticed a coffin on the upper 
deck, and distinctly saw some of the men remove 
a corpse from a mattress, and put it in the coffin. 
The mattress was immediately thrown overboard, 
and it floated ashore at the old fort, while the 
coffin and its contents were taken to the opposite 
shore and buried. We learned from another respect- 
ble source, that another corpse was taken from the 
ship at night to the same location, and buried. At 
about the same period the body of a man also float- 
ed ashore, where it was secured with a cord and 
covered with canvas, by some of the workmen, at 
the fort. The face was greatly disfigured and mu- 
tilated ; the handswere as yellow as an orange, and 
the dress, as they supposed, that of a coal-heaver 
or fireman. The inference at the time was, that 
the corpse was that of one of the hands of the ship, 
and that it had been thrown overboard (which is 
doubtful, however); or that one of the men was 
drowned in the effort to get to the shore. No 
inquest was held, and the body was placed in a 
rough coffin and buried at Fort Norfolk, by the 
direction of Mr. Matthews, a Constable from Ports- 
mouth. 

Mr. Harper, who superintended some of the work 



ms'ivuY Of Tin: PESTlLENGfi. 15 

at the fort, and a numbet of others employed 
there, saw two men descend the side of the steamer, 
jump into the water, and swim ashore. One of 
them narrowly escaped drowning. On being 
questioned as to the cause of their leaving the 
ship thus hastily and periling their lives to get to 
the shore, they replied that they preferred to take 
the risk of losing their lives by drowning, to that 
of dying of the fever which was prevailing on 
board. 

It is superfluous to state that Mr. Harper and 
his companions were greatly surprised when they 
saw the infected vessel making her way up to the 
ship-yard, after the indisputable evidence which 
they had, that her sanitary state was so dangerous. 
Nor is it at all surprising that they should have 
emphatically declared their belief as they did, 
that a raging pestilence would be the fearful con- 
sequence of the sad error that was committed. 

That ill-omened ocean steamer, with the foul 
stench of loathsome disease, floated slowly and 
gloomy-looking, dark and ominous, up our deep 
and quiet harbor, and, rounding the beautiful point 
occupied by a portion of the opposite town, she 
was secured at a wharf on the west side of the 
southern branch of our river, at Gosport. Who 



16 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

but the omniscient Creator knew of the terrible 
calamity that was soon to come upon the people? 
How few, comparatively, supposed that she con- 
tained the seeds of disease and death, to be scat- 
tered in every street and lane and dwelling in the 
two devoted towns; that the harmless air the 
people breathed was about to act as a medium for 
the dissemination of a poison as deadly as the 
roaring and stifling simoom in the hot and gloomy 
depths of benighted Africa, or that drifts the sands 
of the sterile deserts of Arabia ! 

The very name of that ocean steamer, though 
sacred in the annals of our mighty republic, falls 
sadly upon many an ear, and sends a thrill of 
agony to many a heart ; and it will linger in the 
minds of thousands in painful association with 
the fever-scourge that rendered so desolate the two 
adjacent cities of the Elizabeth. 

After arriving at quarantine, the ship was visited 
by Dr. R. H. Gordon, the City Health Officer, who 
was informed by the captain that there was no case 
of yellow fever on board. The steamer, however, 
remained at quarantine twelve days, and on the 19th 
of June, Dr. Gr., with the consent of the Board of 
Health of Norfolk, and of some members of the Com- 
mon Council of Portsmouth, yielded to the captain's 



niSTOKv or Tin: pestilenu:. 1*7 

earnest solicitation, and granted him a permit to 
bring his leaky ship up into the harbor, upon the 
express condition, however, that "her hold was 
not to be broken out." She was, accordingly, 
taken up to Messrs. Page and Allen's ship- 
yard, in Gosport, to be repaired ; and, sad to 
say, the captain violated his promise in regard 
to "breaking out the hold." As to his pre- 
vious assertion that there was no case of fever 
on board, the public will judge of its probable 
truth or falsity, by his reckless disregard for his 
promise, as well as by facts which we have already 
given. 

We will admit the possibility that we should 
have escaped the frightful scenes that followed 
this violation, had it never been committed ; for 
the poison might have remained harmless, so long 
as confined within the limits of the vessel's hold. 
But it was, indeed, a great error in judgment, to 
allow a ship to come to our wharves, with the 
possibility that the seeds of a fearfully malignant 
disease were generating beneath her planks, that 
an air charged with death was confined in her 
ample hold, and which, it was believed, it would 
be hazardous in the extreme to permit to escape, 
and infect the healthful air w T ith which this location 



18 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

was surrounded at the period mentioned. The 
health of the two adjacent towns was remarkably- 
good, up to the week in which the fever com- 
menced its ravages in the immediate vicinity of 
Page and Allen's dock-yard, where, by the way, 
the business of ship-building was extensively con- 
ducted, and with a suitable regard to the sanitary 
condition of the location. But soon the extensive 
ship-yard was vacant. The busy and stalwart 
workmen fled hastily away before the poisoned 
breath of the pestilence. One of the largest class 
merchant ships remained unfinished upon the 
stocks, deserted and still, and the massive timbers 
lay untouched by the adze or the axe. The water 
rippled playfully along the quiet shore; the 
sudden flutter of the silvery perch, or the ominous 
scream of the sea-gull, occasionally disturbed the 
silence — the deep and painful silence that reigned 
where the voice of busy laborers had been heard, 
and where the noise of the saw and the hammer, 
that now lay rusting and useless, had echoed during 
all the long and tedious working hours of the 
summer day. 

The fearful consequences that followed, so dis- 
astrous to the health, lives, happiness, and pros- 
perity of the people, and so injurious to the business 



IIISTOKY OF Till: rKSTITT.NCE. 19 

ami good name o\' the two towns, were plainly the 

result oi' error, on the part of the authorities, in 
allowing the ship, under all the circumstances, to 
come up ; as well as of deception, and a gross viola- 
tion of the engagement by the captain of the 
steamer. We present not these facts for the pur- 
of eliciting blame upon the course of those 
immediately concerned. We are aiming at facts. 
The truth should be known. All are liable to 
mistake and deception, and many have innocently 
erred in matters involving the highest interests of 
individuals and communities, for time and eternity, 
producing the most unexpected and startling re- 
sults, and causing the deep heart-thrilling wail of 
woe and despair to go forth from the profoundest 
depths of maternal, widowed, and orphaned hearts, 
wrung with unutterable anguish, bleeding from 
wounds too deep to be healed, crushed and break- 
ing beneath a weight of sorrow too intolerable, too 
ponderous to be borne. 

We will not speak, therefore, in unbecoming 
terms of censure, with regard to the conduct of any 
citizen. This would neither benefit the living, nor 
the profoundly sleeping dead. Nay, verily, 
this would not restore to the lone and disconsolate 
widow the dear and cherished object of her heart's 



20 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

unfailing affection; nor call up from the dark, 
damp, silent grave, and restore to weeping and 
bereaved orphans, him or her who was their best 
friend, the light and joy of the happy fireside, the 
life and the soul of the united household ; to the 
doating parent the son or the daughter of promise ; 
to the busy mart its departed merchants of enter- 
prise and skill ; to the white harvest-field its faith- 
ful and devoted laborers; nor to science and art 
the men of mind and learning that have passed 
away. They are all resting now beneath the green 
sod ; their eternal destiny is unalterably fixed ; 
their work is done ; their earthly conflict has 
ended ; the struggle with the " last enemy" is over, 
.and we leave them in the hands of a merciful and 
just Creator. 

The force of the calamity has passed. The re- 
sults and effects, it is true, are still seen and felt 
on every hand, and the great and afflictive dispen- 
sation will tell upon the destinies of many for time 
and eternity. But it was allowed in unerring wis- 
dom, by an all-wise Providence, and it, therefore, 
becomes every person to bow in humble submission 
to the decrees of the great I AM ; to learn a wise les- 
son from the past, and to throw the mantle of charity 
upon the acts, the blunders, the faults and failures 



n IS TORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 21 

of those who will be judged impartially and finally 
before the great throne of Eternal Justice, at the 
Doming grand and supreme assize, from which there 
will be no appeal. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ADDITIONAL FACTS WITH REGARD TO THE INFECTED STEAMER — 

THE SPREAD OF THE FEVER SOME OF THE EARLIEST 

VICTIMS FORMER HEALTHFULNESS OF NORFOLK AND PORTS- 
MOUTH. 

Shortly after the arrival of the steamer, the 
Captain and the man acting as chief engineer 
called on Mr. Davids of the Atlantic Iron Works, 
of this city — a gentleman of most undoubted vera- 
city and good character, from whom we obtain 
the following facts — -.to repair the engine of the 
steamer, and he promised to go on board the next 
day. Accordingly, Mr. Pettit, the foreman of the 
works, went down to Town Point to engage a boat 
in which to visit the ship. Here he learned facts 
that led to further and very definite and import- 
ant information about the sanitary condition of 
the vessel, which information we would give, if we 
thought it necessary to strengthen the position we 
have taken. 

On the following day, Mr. Davids informed the 
captain and engineer that he would not undertake 
to repair the ship, unless he would have her 
thoroughly cleansed and fumigated. Kotwith- 



lllM.u:v 09 nir. PE8TILEN0B. 23 

standing all this, and although it was generally 
understood that there was yellow lover on board, 

and after the Tact had been emphatically stated by 
those who had every necessary means of knowing 
the true state of the vessel, two days after the 
period above alluded to, as before shown, she was 
most unfortunately allowed to go up to the ship- 
vard at Gosport — a sad mistake indeed ! Mr. 
Davids, with his foreman, however, ventured on 
board, at the wharf, and immediately thereafter 
informed some of the citizens of Portsmouth, 
among whom were Mr. Samuel Brewer and Mr. 
Wm. H. Morris, and also a number of persons in 
this city, that there was yellow- fever on board the 
vessel, and that, if allowed to remain, in a few 
weeks the inhabitants would be driven away by a 
pestilence. Alas ! she did remain, her hold was 
broken open, her hatches removed, her intensely 
offensive bilge water was pumped out, and the 
wholesale work of death commenced. And such 
would probably have been the result in 1854, had 
the infected French steamer Chimere* been allow- 



* The French steamer Chimere arrived at quarantine in July, 
with fever on board, and fifty-four cases were sent to the 
Naval Hospital. Fourteen died — eleven with the black vomit, 
and three from the effects of the disease. 



24 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

ed to come up into our harbor, when the authori- 
ties were urged to give their consent. Some of the 
citizens manifested the deepest concern upon the 
subject, before the vessel went up to the ship- 
yard. Among these was a gentleman of high 
standing, who emphatically declared his belief 
that, if the vessel were not rigidly kept at quaran- 
tine, and prevented from coming to our wharves, 
the consequences would be awful in the ex- 
treme — as, indeed, they proved to be. But what 
need have we to multiply testimony, or further 
facts, tending, to throw light upon the true merits 
of the case ? The terribly malignant visitation is 
regarded as a scourge of the all-wise Creator, and 
so it may be ; but who can doubt, that as in Phila- 
delphia, in 1793, as shown by Mr. Carey, who 
carefully observed and faithfully described the 
origin and progress of the fever there, the disease 
was brought and introduced by a foreign vessel, 
and that this was at least the chief instrumentality 
that caused so fearful and crushing a calamity ? 
Soon after the fever made its appearance 

The United States Frigate Columbia arrived at quarantine 
March 19th, 1855, with yellow fever on board. Sixty-three cases 
were sent to the United States Naval Hospital, and only five died. 

A ship may be infected sufficiently to spread the fever, and 
the crew, from acclimation, etc., may be free from disease. 



H8T0BY OF THE PES tilkxCE. 25 

in the immediate aeighborhood of the dock at 
which the vessel lay, it extended, as before men- 
tioned, to the heart of Portsmouth, lying north of 
the locution where it first appeared; and thence 
it found its way to Norfolk. It is well enough 
known, that a number of persons in Gosport 
sought refuge in Barry's Row, in Norfolk, com- 
ing over, especially in the night, both sick and 
well, with their furniture, including, of course, 
beds, mattresses, carpets, clothing, etc. The dis- 
. in Norfolk, seemed to be confined almost 
entirely to the occupants of the above-named row, 
situated on the east side of Church street, between 
Union and Wide Water, until about the close of 
the first week in August ; then it gradually made 
its way along Wide Water, Union, Main, and other 
streets, with a mortality seldom if ever known 
during the fiercest raging of epidemics in other 
cities and in other countries. The weather here 
was very warm in the latter part of June, con- 
tinued so in July, and in August the air was 
damp, close, hot, and disagreeable. In Septem- 
ber it was more cool, but damp. 

Mr. A. J. McFadden, a clerk at the Gosport 
Iron Works, situated very, near Page & Allen's 
2 



26 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

ship-yard, was among the first who took the 
fever, after the ship went up, and he soon died. 

Mr. Eobert W. Warren, who was clerk for 
Page & Allen, though residing in Norf^k, was 
attacked on Wednesday, 25th July, and died Sat- 
urday night following, having been among the 
earliest victims, and very probably the first who 
died in Norfolk, excepting some of the hapless 
occupants of Barry's Row. The writer was in- 
formed by the attending physician, that the symp- 
toms were precisely like those in other severe 
cases that occurred subsequently. 

It is sufficiently evident that there was no 
known case of yellow fever in Norfolk or Ports- 
mouth in 1855, before the infected ship passed up 
between the two towns on her way to the ship- 
yard at Gosport. 

Now, it is true that no one can tell certainly 
and positively, whether or not . the fever would 
have made its appearance without the addition to 
the atmosphere of the noxious effluvia dispensed 
from the steamer. This, as before intimated, may 
have been only requisite to increase the malignity 
of the epidemic, and the extent of the fearful 
calamity to its almost unequaled severity. But 
we think we have shown that the circumstances, 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 27 

the well authenticated facts bearing upon the sub- 
ject, plainly, unequivocally, undeniably, all tend 
to lead reasonable, unprejudiced, and unbiased 
minds to a different, conclusion. 

It seems needless to attempt further to strength- 
en or defend our position. But we will add yet 
other links to the chain of evidence. The Health 
Officer's monthly bill of mortality for July showed 
the number of deaths, from various diseases, to 
have been fifty-three in all, thirty of whom were 
children, mostly of tender age. In July of the 
preceding year, the number was seventy, exhibit- 
ing a decrease in 1855 of over twenty per cent. ; 
thus confirming our statement that Norfolk was 
healthful until the spread of the disease from the 
vessel. 

Thomas Gr. Broughton, Esq., editor of the Nor- 
folk and Portsmouth Herald, made the following 
statement in his paper, late in July : 

" "We can say truly that, at no period within our memory, has 
Norfolk been, more healthy than it is at this time. Our own 
experience, and the numerous assurances of our friends and fel- 
low-citizens whom we daily meet " about town," justify us in 
pronouncing that opinion ; and what is still more conclusive, 
such is the opinion of all the practicing physicians in the city." 

Nor was the good opinion of the health of the 
place changed until after the removals from Gos- 



28 HISTOKY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

port and Portsmouth to Barry's Row, where the 
disease commenced, and whence it gradually spread 
in every direction ; no case, however, having been 
reported out of this row, or its immediate vicinity, 
or that was not traceable to Gosport, until the 7 th 
of August. 

Let it be remembered that with the same sani- 
tary laws and regulations, with similar weather, 
and, indeed, with far greater apparent local cause 
of sickness, Norfolk and Portsmouth had long been 
uniformly healthful; the bills of mortality com- 
paring very favorably with those of other places, 
known and acknowledged to be exceedingly free 
from epidemic maladies, and fully entitled to their 
claim to salubrity of climate. 



CHAPTER V. 

SYMPTOMS OF THE YELLOW FKVER — REMEDIES AND TREATMENT- 
EFFECTS OF THE MALADY — THE PLAGUE FLY. 

The symptoms of the disease were, generally, as 
follow, and persons were affected in various ways: 

Very frequently the premonitory symptom was 
an unpleasant feeling in the fore part of the head, 
which, in severe cases, often increased to a violent 
headache. The eyes assumed a strange and unna- 
tural expression, sometimes presenting a reddish 
color, but, in many instances, deeply tinged with 
yellow. A dull, heavy, and sleepy feeling fre- 
quently came over the patient, and was often 
manifested, to some extent, for several days before 
more alarming symptoms were exhibited. Many 
were attacked with a chill, which was followed by 
loss of appetite, debility, and very severe pain in 
the limbs, back, and bowels, although in some 
cases the pains were comparatively slight. When 
the malady did not yield to treatment, there was 
often a great oppression about the breast. The 
tongue was generally furred white or brown, with a 
watery, red appearance around it. Suppression of 
urine and urethral haemorrhage were much dreaded, 
and were generally fatal symptoms ; for delirium 



30 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

soon followed, and death was the almost unevita- 
ble result. The black vomit, as is well known, 
was also a common and, generally, though not in all 
cases, a fatal symptom.* Many of the victims suf- 
fered from copious haemorrhage from the mouth 
and nose, the blood generally possessing its natural 
color, or showing but little variation therefrom. 
The bleeding of the gums often occurred also. A 
number of those attacked were dreadfully afflicted 
with boils and carbuncles, from which blood was 
freely discharged. They appeared upon the face, 
the hands, arms, and on various parts of the body. 
As to the remedies, calomel and quinine were 
freely administered to many of the patients, and 
poultices were freely applied, before the nature 
of the disease was understood. The use of strong 
remedies was almost entirely discontinued, after 
a greater knowledge of the epidemic had been 
acquired. Castor oil, and other mild purgatives, lem- 
onade, ice-water, sponging the surface with water 
and vinegar, warm applications to the chest, bath- 
ing the feet in warm water, with mustard plenti- 

* The black vomit is a rapid exudation from the smaller blood- 
vessels, indicating the presence of an active poison in the sys- 
tem — the color not entirely black, but, more properly, a very 
dark brown. 



history of Tin: pestilence. 31 

fully thrown in, nibbing with mustard, keeping the 
patient moderately warm, and good nursing as ad- 
vised especially by physicians from the South, had 
a much more salutary effect than all or any of the 
remedies and means used in the treatment of those 
who were attacked before the nature of the disease 
was understood by the resident physicians.* 

The fever often tended to prostrate the patient 
at once, depriving him of strength and vigor ; and 
the strong doses of medicine that were given, hav- 
ing a similar effect upon the system, the sufferer 
was soon so exceedingly debilitated, that it was im- 
possible to rally, and death quickly ensued, although 
the sufferer might retain strength enough to walk 
almost till" the moment of his death. Besides, in 
many cases, fear exerted its power, and then the 
patient sank rapidly, notwithstanding the most 
skillful course of treatment, and the most careful 
nursing. When the fever-patient became alarmed, 
the chance of recovery was greatly lessened. They 

* Mr. E. Summers-, recently Mayor of Norfolk, rendered him- 
self useful during the epidemic, and was very successful, by means 
of simple remedies and good nursing, in his efforts to arrest the 
progress of the disease in a number of cases. But in thousands 
of instances no treatment succeeded, and, generally, in five or six 
days the earthly career of the patient closed, although many 
terminated fatally in forty-eight hours, and a number in a 
still shorter space of time. 



32 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

who were most calm and fearless, whose remedies 
were mild, and who were judiciously nursed, were 
far more likely to survive an attack of the disease. 
A number of those who were ill, and measurably 
recovered, owing to exposure, or imprudence of 
some kind, were attacked a second, and some even 
a third time. These subsequent attacks were gene- 
rally called relapses, and, in many cases, the pa- 
tients died soon after a return of the symptoms. 
This disease was, no doubt, the endemic fever of 
southern latitudes, and prevalent, though more or 
less violent, especially in the West Indies, along 
the coast of South America, etc. It can be readily 
transported in vessels, and thus it may become 
epidemic in places generally Jiealthful. 

The tendency to putridity and mortification, in 
severe cases, was also observed, and was, of course, 
deemed a fatal symptom, and the rapid decom- 
position of the body after death was regarded as 
a singular effect of this fearful tropical fever. In 
most instances, as is well known, the body assumed 
a yellow color, and many who survived an attack 
were yellow for weeks after the dreaded crisis of 
the fever had passed, and they were considered 
nearly out of danger. 

With regard to the appearance of an insect 



HIBTOm OP THE PESTILENCE. 33 

called the plague-fly, not observable here prior to 
the breaking out of the fever, much has been said 
ami written. The writer noticed large numbers 
of the singular species of fly alluded to. In size, 
they were smaller than the common house-fly. The 
wings were longer, but narrower, and the color of 
the body yellowish, often approaching a light red. 
They appeared in great quantities on the fig-trees, 
though swarming in damp and filthy places. 
Whether or not they were ever seen here before, 
or were in any way connected with the pestilence, 
we are not prepared to say. 
2* 



CHAPTER VI. 

NORFOLK BEFORE THE FEVER— GENERAL APPEARANCE OF THE CITY 

AND ITS VICINITY THE CLIMATE NORFOLK AND PORTSMOUTH 

HARBOR. 

Before attempting a more full and particular 
account of the progress of the yellow fever, we 
present a description of the city of Norfolk, and of 
its general appearance prior to the commencement 
of the terrible visitation to which we have already 
alluded. 

Imagine yourself, reader, standing at the pleas- 
ing elevation of 120 feet, looking out from the 
massive cupola of the City Hall upon a charming and 
exciting panorama, tastefully spread around in every 
direction by the hand of nature and art. You learn, 
by the shifting vane glistening on yon towering 
spire, that the changing wind has veered to north- 
west. It is a gentle, exhilarating breeze. And 
now the old church clock is slowly tolling off the 
busy hour of ten. Beneath are the massive propor- 
tions of the principal public building, standing 
firmly and proudly on its solid base, while all 
around, the deep green sward relieves the eye. 



histoky ov THE PESTILENCE. 35 

There is much interesl and beauty in the view 
Stretching our Hence through the city, and extend- 
ing for miles in the distance. The brilliant rays 
of the summer's sun gleam down upon the land 
with its houses, its green-clad trees, its blooming 
flowers, while the spacious river reflects his 
beams like a great mammoth mirror ; and light, 
fleecy clouds stand leisurely above the western 
horizon. 

The beholder is struck with the apparent near- 
of objects, as he looks out from this altitude, 
and casts his eye down upon them with surprise, 
at the singular distinctness with which they stand 
out to view. There is in every direction an ap- 
pearance of neatness, convenience, and comfort. 
In a word, Norfolk thus beheld, imparts an idea of 
pleasantness and salubrity, at once cheering and 
satisfactory. Perhaps the most exciting scene is 
in the direction of about south by west ; the busy 
populace, the towering edifices closely huddled 
together ; the sister town of Portsmouth, with its 
neat buildings, just across the water, and stretch- 
ing along the banks of the southern branch of the 
river — a deep and handsome stream, which floats 
in her majesty the great ship Pennsylvania, and 
other great war vessels — and then winds along by 



36 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

the United States Navy Yard, and conceals itself 
among the dense foliage on either side. 

Not the least interesting object is the Seaboard 
Road, which, strange as it may seem, is distinctly 
marked out upon the landscape, standing to view 
for miles in a straight line to Bower's Hill. It is 
remarkable, too, that with no such intention, but 
by mere accident entirely, the City Hall should be 
so situated as that its ample cupola can be plainly 
seen down upon this perfectly straight stretch 
of eight miles. Looking at the road from this 
height, it appears to rise gradually, until at the 
furthest visible point, it seems to attain an eleva- 
tion of several degrees. But yonder looms nobly 
up the Naval Hospital — massive, chaste, and beau- 
tiful ; further on westward the Western Branch 
commences, but soon recedes from the sight. We 
take in view now the spacious surface of the deep 
and placid Elizabeth, floating upon its ample bosom 
numerous merchant vessels and fishing-boats, mov- 
ing gently along before the breeze. How clearly 
does old Craney Island appear to rise up, as it 
were, from its watery bed in the distance, justly 
celebrated for its well-fought and victorious battle 
in 1813. And now we lessen the sweep of vision, 
taking in old Fort Norfolk, and several neat farms. 



DBTORI OF THE rrs rn.r.NCE. 37 

We take now a still loss extended glance, and 
indulge in a general view of the city, of which 
there are four prominent points that seem to ex- 
tend out from the centre in different directions — 
Town Point, Smith's, Briggs', and the space reach- 
in v: from the eastern portion of Wide Water to 
Bermuda street, while thousands of buildings ex- 
tend out from the river, northwards, presenting an 
aspect both beautiful and attractive. Trees and 
flowers are closely intermingled, while carefully 
cultivated gardens stand profusely out upon the 
picture, and please the eye. Some twenty pub- 
lic buildings lift up their ample dimensions, and 
give an air of importance to the scene. A dozen 
churches — some of them very beautiful — occupy 
the most prominent position, and many handsome 
and commodious family residences strike the eye 
and please the taste. In a northwesterly direction, 
a dense growth of forest trees forms the back ground 
of the scenery, but at one point the outline gently 
depressing, the smooth, shining surface of the 
river again appears, as it meanders on towards the 
roads. 

We have said nothing of the Eastern Branch of 
the river, which winds on its serpentine course in 
the distance, with the smiling corn-fields, dense 



38 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

green foliage, and neat farm-houses, on its beauti- 
ful and gently sloping banks. 

Of the climate and harbor of Norfolk, Lieut. 
Maury, U. S. N., than whom there is scarcely a 
better judge, gives the following graphic and 
truthful description : 

"Its climate is delightful. Its harbor is commodious, and 
as safe as safe can be. It is never blocked up with ice, and 
as to the egress and ingress between it and the sea, it possesses 
all the facilities that the mariner himself could desire. It has 
the double advantage of an outer and inner harbor. The inner 
harbor is almost as smooth as a mill-pond ; in it, vessels lie with 
the most perfect security, where every natural facility imaginable 
is afforded for lading and unlading. Being ready for sea, the 
outward-bound trader, dropping down from this snug mooring, 
and approaching the sea, finds a storm raging from outside. 
The outer harbor then affords shelter, until the fury of the gale 
is spent, when the white winged messenger trips her anchor, 
trims to the breeze, and goes forth rejoicing on her way to the 
haven where she would be." 



CHAPTER VII. 

commencement and progress of the fever in the city — 
Barry's row in ruins — the flight of the citizens — 
effects of the scourge — examples of true benevolence 
and heroism. 

Before the close of July, the disease had 
spread from Gosport to Portsmouth, and on the 
of that month it was officially announced 
that there had been several cases in Barry's Row, 
and four deaths. On the 2nd of August there had 
been but seven deaths in the city, from the fever ; 
and on the 3rd no new cases were reported, and 
the epidemic seemed to be rapidly disappearing. 

On the 7th of August, one case was reported 
out of the infected district, and the citizens began 
to be greatly concerned upon the subject.' 

On the evening of the 9th, Barry's Row was 
set on fire and destroyed, and this encouraged the 
people to hope that the fatal disease would sub- 
side entirely with the flames that fed upon the 
wood- work, and cleared away the filth of those 
tottering old buildings. 

But they were sadly mistaken. The epidemic 



40 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

now spread rapidly, and the citizens began to 
hasten away. Soon it appeared on Main Street. 
Several estimable citizens were attacked, and in 
three or four days were dead and buried ; and 
about the 10th, the great flight commenced. 

So general and precipitate a flight as that which 
took place then, we never expected to witness. 
The thought of disease and sudden death, the 
knowledge of an existing pestilence, we know are 
appalling to sinful man, and an instinctive love of 
health and life naturally hurries him away beyond 
the limits of the destroying agent, to a purer 
atmosphere and a healthier clime. The strong 
man in his prime dreads the presence of an air 
that poisons the life-blood and kills in a day ; and 
even the sincere Christian feels solemn when 
he reflects upon so sad a visitation from the 
great Being in whom he trusts and whom he 
loves. 

We censure no one individually ; we merely 
mention the occurrence as an historical fact. But 
the question was very naturally asked : Should 
Christians fly, too, from the danger, at the very 
time when their presence is most required ? — 
when their words of advice, instruction, and com- 
fort are so necessary ? — when nursing and watch- 



IUSTOKY OF THE PESTILENCE. 41 

log are so much needed ? " I was sick, and ye 
ed me not.'' 
Surely, if there over was a time when the true 
disciples of Christ should be active and in the line 
of their duty in Norfolk, that was the time ; for, 
verily, " the pestilence walked in darkness and 
destruction wasted at noonday." Friends, neigh- 
bors, and acquaintances were prostrated by dis- 
ease — burning with fever, and tortured with 
pains, and Death was fearfully at work ; and how 
important the soothing words of the Christian at 
such a time ! There seemed a deep meaning in 
the course pursued by some, especially to the 
irreligious who remained and manfully battled 
with the fury of the death-dealing messenger ; 
and to those who felt it to be a sacred duty to 
remain and assist in the humane work of nursing 
the sick ; contributing to the wants of the needy 
and the suffering ; consoling the dying ; shroud- 
ing and burying the dead, and guarding the 
property and lives of the people. Nearly all, 
indeed, who remained, personally felt the crush- 
ing power of the fierce destroyer; and, alas, many 
found a hasty and premature grave — dying like 
true men at their posts, as brave soldiers upon the 
contested field. Honored be their graves ! 



42 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

" A stampede has taken place among us," wrote 
one who remained at the post of duty. "Our city- 
looks deserted. Thousands of people have fled. 
Panic has prevailed over the better judgment of 
our citizens ; and business is almost entirely sus- 
pended. 

" The circumstance of persons who can afford 
to travel, leaving their homes during the later 
months of summer, is of itself nothing ; but when 
the sick are neglected, and death is induced by 
such neglect, the privilege of self-preservation is 
carried beyond all necessary rule." 

God's -chastening hand was upon the people. 
The cries of distress were heard ; widows and 
orphans were multiplied ; the wail of woe came 
out dolefully from the abodes of disease, poverty, 
and wretchedness, and died away upon the pes- 
tilent night-wind ; and of suffering, want, and 
misery, there was more than we can tell. It was 
indeed a sad and gloomy period ; and how much 
the calamity was increased in its intensity by the 
absence of religious friends, and the deprivation 
of their attention, consolatory instruction, coun- 
sel, and prayers, in the rooms where death claimed 
and seized his victims, many of whom died from 
neglect, we leave to the imagination of those who 



history or Tin: it.stilexce. »• 43 

BOUght and enjoyed a more salubrious climate and 
l Less dangerous Location. If conscience acquits 
them, perhaps no person should blame them. Let 
all, therefore, who are disposed to censure, cease 
from henceforth. 

The indomitable and great-hearted Luther, 
when the plague broke out in Wittemburg, in 
1516, 1-527, and 1535, inspired by the true courage 
which faith in Christ alone can give, fearlessly- 
looked death in the face, in its most terrible guise. 
Three times he remained in the midst of the dan- 
ger, though earnestly urged to fly. " I hope," said 
he, u the w r orld may stand, though Martin Luther 
fall. Here I must remain ; I do not say this be- 
cause I do not fear death — for I am not the Apostle 
Paul, but only his commentator — but I trust God 
will protect me from all my fears." When the 
greater number of the inhabitants had left, he 
said : " We are not alone; Christ and your prayers 
arc with us ; also the holy angels, invisible, but power- 
ful ! Let every one dispose his mind this way, if 
he be bound to remain and assist his fellow-men in 
their death-struggles, let him resign himself to God 
and say, ' Lord, I am in thy hands; thou hast fixed 
me here ; thy will be done.' " "He administers the 
last consolations of religion to dying women in the 



44 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

infected room ; and the different degrees of the fear 
of death stalk along as a never-ending funeral 
train." 

But take another example, one in which, perhaps, 
the power of Christian faith and love was not the 
moving cause. In 1793, when the yellow fever 
raged awfully in Philadelphia, Stephen Girard, the 
merchant with more than princely wealth, offered 
himself as a manager to superintend a hospital ; 
and there he encouraged the sick, handed them 
medicine, wiped the sweat from their sallow brows, 
and performed even many disgusting offices of kind- 
ness for them, " which nothing could render toler- 
able but the exalted motive that impelled him to 
this heroic conduct." 

We heard a minister, who did not prove re- 
creant to the high and holy duties of his office, 
and who went willingly to the abodes of woe 
and death, say, that he found a woman soon after 
the commencement of the scourge, whose husband 
had just died of the fever. She, too, was attacked, 
and no one was there to nurse and comfort her. 
He looked out, and the neighbors had all gone — 
their doors and windows were closed. " Here," 
said she, " I must lie, and die alone." And there 
was a boy with the black vomit, and no one but his 



history OF THE PESTILENCE. US 

little sister to attend him, during the slow and 
sad hours of along night of pain and sorrow. 

But many noble souls and great hearts remained, 
and their recompense will be great. They shrank 
not from their duty. They breathed the deadly 
breath of the pestilence ; they visited the sick 
and the dying, and whispered sweet words of faith 
and consolation in the ears of the sufferers, whose 
thanks, and prayers, and blessings, will be remem- 
bered in time and eternity ; and the faithful sol- 
diers of the Cross who fell while doing their duty 
when most needed, fell gloriously, and their reward 
is unspeakable and eternal. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE FEVER INCREASING — THE HOWARD ASSOCIATION ORGAN- 
IZED — THE SCOURGE IN PORTSMOUTH — THE STAMPEDE — 
THE TOWN DESERTED — THE PANIC — INTERCOURSE WITH 
OTHER PLACES PROHIBITED — INHOSPITALITY TOWARDS 
THE AFFLICTED CITIES — NOBLE CONDUCT OF THE CITIZENS 
OF NORTHAMPTON — MATTHEWS AND PRINCESS ANNE COUN- 
TIES— FREDERICKSBURG — GOVERNOR WISE INVITES THE 
PEOPLE TO COME OVER TO HIS HOME IN ACCOMAC 

On the 10th, the report of the Board of Health 
showed an increase of new cases, but all were 
traced to Barry's Row, and the deaths, with one ex- 
ception, were of persons removed therefrom. This 
is confirmed by the statement of the Secretary of 
the Board of Health, made at that time. 

At this date, a meeting of some of the citizens 
was held, and a society was formed and called the 
Howard Association. Its chief objects were to 
procure and furnish a hospital, to provide for and 
relieve the sick, and bury the dead. William B. 
Ferguson was elected President ; J. I. Bloodgood, 
Vice-President ; James A. Saunders, Secretary ; and 
R. W. Bowden, Treasurer. Several thousand dol- 



IIISTOKY OF Tin: PESTILENCE* 47 

lars were immediately subscribed by the citizens; 
but the Association was not fully organized for 
several weeks. 
" The disease,' 1 wrote a gentleman in Portsmouth, 
•onfined to no locality, but, in my opinion, ex- 
tends to every part of the town. When taken into 
connection with the morality, the in frequency of 
the disease, our bad state of preparation to meet it, 
the alarm it has created, and the immense numbers 
who have fled, I question if any community has 
been more badly scourged and afflicted. The whole 
surrounding country is overrun — private houses, 
barns, kitchens, schoolhouses, churches, tents,cabins 
and other kinds of shelter, are all crammed. 

" I greatly apprehend that when the mortality 
of those who have fled and those remaining, shall 
be correctly summed up, it will be found far greater 
among the former than the latter. The emigration 
has left us a deserted town — entire streets have only 
one or two families remaining, districts are depo- 
pulated, hotels and stores closed, business suspend- 
ed, and society disrupted. Poor Portsmouth ! She 
presents a sad and desolate appearance, and some 
time must elapse before she can recover from the 
severe shock that has prostrated her." 

The panic at home and abroad had now amounted 



48 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

almost to a mania. The fever of 1821 and 182G, 
and the cholera of 1S32 caused an alarming mor- 
tality; but on neither occasion was the panic com- 
parable to what it was in August, 1855. 

" On neither of those occasions," wrote the edit- 
or of the Herald, "was our intercourse w T ith other 
towns interdicted. The James river and Bay boats 
ran without restrictions, and even the New York 
packets w r ere subjected to nothing more than a 
brief examination. Contrast this with the stop- 
page of all intercourse with Old Point, Hampton, 
the James river towns, Suffolk, Weldon, Elizabeth 
City, Edenton, etc., and then say whether the re- 
sult shows a march, or a retrograde of intellect." 

"We have been treated," said the editor of the 
Argus, "with an inhospitality heretofore unknown 
in Virginia, in having almost every outlet from the 
place barricaded against us. Our citizens, who have 
gone to other retreats for safety (though free from 
disease themselves), have been, in many instances, 
inhumanly thrust back upon our borders. Our 
soldiers have been ordered to arm against the dis- 
eased and the afflicted. Our legitimate trade has 
been rudely interdicted. Our supplies of things, 
even needful for our daily uses, have been reck- 
lessly stopped. The mandates of Christianity have 



HISTORY or THE PESTILENCE, 1> 

been suspended by a sort of general outside con- 
sent, and we have been penned up, for aught that 
our neighbors (with a few Bplendid exceptions), 
have manifested, to die and rot! 



"But in these days of depression, loneliness, and 
sorrow, occasioned by prevailing disease, mortality 
and desertion, the following resolutions from 'the 
sea-girt isle 1 come across our spirit like a breath 
from Paradise — redeeming, vivifying! We could 
luccj) for very gratitude :" 

" At a meeting of a large portion of the citizens 
of Northampton County, held at the Court-house 
on Monday, the 13th inst., Dr. Thomas F. Spady 
was called to the Chair, and J. R. Harmanson was 
appointed Secretary. 

"William T. Fitchett, Esq., stated the object of 
the meeting, and concluded by moving that the 
Chair appoint a committee of six to report suit- 
able resolutions to the meeting. 

" The following gentlemen were thereupon ap- 
pointed by the Chair: Win. T. Fitchett, Dr. Tho- 
mas J. L. L. Nottingham, Col. Benjamin S. Dal by, 
Nathaniel H. Fisher, Edward W. Nottingham, and 

Thomas R. Jarvis, who reported, through their 
3 



50 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

Chairman, the following resolutions, which were 
unanimously adopted : 

" Eesolved, That we have heard, with deep regret, the accounts 
of suffering from disease and panic that exists in the cities of Nor- 
folk and Portsmouth. We hereby tender to those people the 
assurance of our sincere and heart-felt sympathy. 

" Eesolved, That, ' let others do as they may,' we cannot con- 
sent to practice upon a code of humanity that would weigh a 
remote and contingent danger to ourselves against positive suf- 
fering, and probable destruction, to our neighbors. The stranger, 
flying from pestilence, will find our little county still open to him 
as a place of refuge, and our citizens disposed to render all the 
courtesy and kindness that their limited means will allow. 

" Eesolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be published 
in the Norfolk and Portsmouth papers. 

"THOMAS F. SPADY, Chairman. 
"J. E. Harmanson, Secretary." 

The following letter was received, at this period, 
from our able and talented" townsman, Dr. Sim- 
kins, whose ill health and sick relatives compelled 
him, reluctantly, to be absent from the city : 

Eastville, August 13th. 
A. F. Leonard, Esq., Editor of the Argus : 

Dear Sir : — I write hurriedly from the little Court village of 
Northampton, to say, thank God, for the honor of my native 
county ! A large and enthusiastic gathering of her citizens has 
just been held, and they have declared, emphatically, against non- 
intercourse with your unfortunate city. Her portals and the 
hearts of her people are thrown wide open to you all. 

Here, the panic-stricken stranger may find a temporary home, 
and a refuge from the noxious airs that hang around his own de- 
voted domicile. Women and children, flying from the pestilence 
" that wasteth at noon day," are not to be turned from the doors 



H1STOKV OV THE PESTILENCE. 51 

of this gallant and hospitable people. Their Anglo-Saxon blood 
— almost untainted through a living lapse of two hundred years — 
rose up in rebellion at the thought. 

i he taverns here are already full ; but many private 
houses are being thrown open to receive and welcome the fugitive 
population of your town, and still they are willing to encourage 
the migration hither. Yet there is room ou the little ' ; sea-girt 
isle '* — still ampler room in the hearts ami at the hearthstones of 
her people ! It gives me unfeigned pleasure to record these facts, 
so creditable to poor, frail, selfish humanity. They constitute 
the bright and balmy spots of human character — dew and sun- 
shine on the desert of time, over which avarice and evil passion 
have so long breathed their wilting breath. 

But enough of this moralizing. I may write again from my 
fisherman's hut upon the Atlantic shore, the humble accommo- 
dations of which you, or any moderate number of our friends, 
are welcomed to share. There, aldermanic sheep's-heads and 
grass-fed hog fish are " plenty as blackberries." There the sea 
breeze and the surf-bathing may be enjoyed "without money and 
without price." Yours, truly, 

J. J. Simkins. 

Similar humane measures were also taken in Fre- 
dericksburg, Matthews county, etc.; and there were 
some instances of whole-souled generosity in good 
old Princess Anne. We take pleasure in mention- 
ing the handsome and truly noble and Christian 
conduct of John J. Burroughs, Esq., of the latter 
county. 

" In the same gallant spirit which prompted the 
noble resolutions of the Northampton people, Vir- 
ginia's son, Henry A. Wise, fitted up his dwelling- 
house, barns, and every other place of shelter, and 



52 HISTQRY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

cordially invited the afflicted communities to come 
there, assuring them that they should be welcome. 
Other gentlemen of that neighborhood followed 
his example, and their kind offers have, doubt- 
less, been accepted by many. 

" When it became known on the eastern shore of 
Virginia that the residents of Norfolk and Ports- 
mouth were flying from their homes, and that other 
sections of country were driving them away, the 
1 sea-girt peninsula ' greeted those who came to 
her shores with a hearty welcome. Carriages, wa- 
gons, carts, and vehicles of all kinds, were ready at 
the landing whenever the steamer arrived from Nor- 
folk, to convey the refugees to hospitable homes." 
" Tell them," said Wise, " to come on, that we 
have open hearts and houses to receive them." 



CHAPTER IX. 

LNDBKWB ARRIYKS, AND OFFERS HER SERVICES AS NURSE FOV(I0 
THE SICE. — ARRIVAL OF PHYSICIANS AND NURSES — THE DISEASE 
- AWllI.I.V, AND BECOMES EPIDEMIC THROUGHOUT THE 

flTV — NATURE AND SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE THE HOWARD 

IATION OF NORFOLK, AND THE RELIEF COMMITTEE OF 

PORTSMOUTH FRIGHTFUL MORTALITY HASTY BURIAL OF THE 

DEAD. 

Ox the lGth of August, Miss Annie M. Andrews, 
a young lady from Syracuse, N. Y., and formerly 
of Louisiana, arrived in our city, and offered herself 
to Mayor Woodis, to nurse the sick. She imme- 
diately entered upon- her martyr-like labors at the 
hospital, in the true spirit of self-sacrificing, gener- 
ous, and heroic devotion to the cause of human 
suffering ; and hither she was soon followed by 
others, whose kind attention to the sick and suf- 
fering will ever be gratefully remembered. 

During the month of September, a large number 
of physicians and nurses arrived from New Orleans, 
Charleston, Mobile, Savannah, Richmond, New 
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, etc., and com- 
menced their noble efforts to relieve the distressed, 
and assist in the arduous duties of alleviating the 
suffering of the diseased. 



54 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

The fever continued to rage with increasing 
violence in the two towns. " It is now conceded," 
said an observant writer, " by all our physicians, 
^that the fever has become epidemic throughout 
the entire city, and that no part, even to some 
distance beyond the suburbs, is exempt from the 
infection. As a proof of this, independent of the 
new cases that are occurring in every quarter, 
every one, almost without exception, complains of 
occasional nausea and wandering pains in the 
head, back, and limbs. Some constitutions may 
go through the season of acclimation with this 
slight affection, while others, whose systems are 
weaker or more predisposed to the disease, will 
have to succumb and pass through the crisis of 
the fever. Another characteristic of the epidemic 
is, that almost every countenance is tinged with a 
sickly, sallow hue, plainly showing the deleterious 
effects of the poisonous malaria constantly inhaled. 
Yellow fever is certainly one of the strangest 
diseases that mortal flesh is heir to ; its attacks 
are more varied, and it assumes more protean 
forms and sudden changes, during the progress of 
the disease, than any other. Generally, it comes 
on with a chill and severe pain in the head, just 
over the eyes, and back. Then, again, very little 



HlsioKv OF THE PESTILENCE. 56 

pain will bo felt, and the patient will go about 
until his body gives way from feelings of exhaus- 
tion, and he goes to bed to fall into a comatose 
state, and so die. His pulse, singular to say, in 
the meanwhile, until within a short time of his 
death, will be as strong and regular as that of a 
well man ; and he will lay quietly, like one in 
a drowsy state from the effects of morphine." On 
the 24th of August there were at least 500 cases 
in Norfolk, and six apothecary establishments were 
driving a large business, working day and night, 
with all the force the proprietors could command ; 
and on the 25th there were about forty burials. 

The Howard Association, of Norfolk, and the 
Relief Committee, of Portsmouth, had been fully 
organized, and had commenced their career of 
immense usefulness. The great utility of these 
timely organizations, was strikingly apparent. 
The citizens of Norfolk were soon falling at the 
fearful rate of 60, 70, and even 80 per day, and of 
from 20 to 30 in Portsmouth. It was then that 
some were appalled and chilled with fright, while 
others were apparently callous, careless, and reck- 
less, and went about the work of boxing up and 
removing the dead, with but little appearance of 
fear or agitation. 



CHAPTER X. 

DONATIONS FROM ABROAD OFFICERS OF THE HOWARD ASSOCIA- 
TION THE FURY OF THE SCOURGE THE HOSPITAL AT LAM- 
BERT'S POINT DR. WILSON TRUE HEROISM PROVISIONS GET- 
TING SCARCE — THE MARKET DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY AT 

NIGHT-^INCIDENTS OF THE PESTILENCE THE DYING AND THE 

DEAD. 

At this time the donations from abroad were 
very liberal. Too much can scarcely be said in 
commendation of those cities and individuals that 
so generously afforded aid in this time of death, 
disease, and desolation, and of the faithful and 
judicious manner in which the active and indefati- 
gable members of the Howard Association accom- 
plished the benevolent objects intended to be 
effected by the contributions received. 

The following list of the officers of the Howard 

Association was published in the latter part of 

August : 

Waiiam B. Ferguson, President. 
James I. Bloodgood, Vice-President. 
Kobert TV. Bowdeu, Treasurer. 
James A. Saunders, Secretary. 
Dulton Wheeler, Assist. Secretary. 



HlSTOKY ov Tin: PESTILENCE. 57 

William M. Wilson. Resident Physician. 

W. II. Freeman, Thomas Penniston, and De Castro, Assistant 
Physicians, 

Robert W. Rose, Francis L. Higgins, George L. Upshur, 
Visiting Ph ysicians. 

William II. Garnett. Augustus B. Cooke, the former engaged 
by the Association, and the latter by the Board of Health, as- 
BBtanta to the -Mayor, in removing the sick to the Hospital. 

Thomas M. Martin, Thomas H. Beveridge, Conductors. 

J-. A. Kirkpatrick, W. A. Graves, A. Dorney, Richard Gate- 
wood. Jr., Marshall Ott, receivers, etc., of orders for provisions, 
etc. 

Nurses. — Captain Boyd, H. Dodds, Caroline Hinson, Julia 
Partington, P. Handy, A. Baum, E. Tremayne, C. Weaver, 
Margaret A. Stewart, Caroline Henderson, David Swindle, R. 
Brumley. Miss Annie M. Andrews, and six Sisters of Charity. 

William Hinchman, driver of provision wagon. 

John Cavanaugh, Captain of sick lighter. 

Trainer, waterman at the Hospital. 

W. D. Seymour, E. and John Delany, R. Woodward, J. K. 
Hodges, John T. Elliot, William F. Tyler, and several others, 
keepers of provision-store. 

Of cpurse there were many additions and 
changes, owing to sickness and death. Many 
others were subsequently connected with the 
Association. After the death of Mr. Ferguson, 
President, A. B. Cooke was elected to fill the va- 
cancy, and Isaiah Cherry was chosen Secretary. 

The fury of the scourge was now exerted and 
felt in all its scathing power, and fortunate it was 
that measures had been adopted to provide for the 
sick. 



58 HISTORY OP THE PESTILENCE. 

" We had assisted," said the editor of the Argus, 
in an article on the Hospital at Lambert's Point, 
and the Howard Association, " in putting a newly- 
arrived patient to bed ; and, as we left him, with 
three Sisters of Charity around him, smoothing his 
pillow, and administering to his comfort, and judi- 
cious medical attendance at hand, he remarked to 
us, with a gratified smile, * I would rather be here 
than anywhere else.' 

"Dr. William M. Wilson, the resident physician, 
is a gentleman of talent, and enlarged experience. 
We have known him from boyhood, and his self- 
devotion to the cause of philanthropy in the day 
of pestilence is of a piece with all his antecedents. 

" The Howard Association (under whose super- 
vision the Hospital is conducted) are doing all that 
men can do at this crisis. Indeed, the only busy 
place in our paralyzed city is the office of the As- 
sociation. From early morning till late at night are 
these heroic citizens closely occupied in dispensing 
charity, furnishing medicines, sustenance, and nurs- 
ing and moving the sick. Our fear is that these 
martyrs in the cause will break themselves down; 
for they are toiling without the prospect of any re- 
lief, of any Samaritans to take their places, when 
they may sink down exhausted. We have lived out 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 59 

half the space allotted to man for the period of his 
pilgrimage, and have traversed many a league of 
the surface of the habitable globe, but we have 
never before been eye-witness to such universal 
calamity as is now around us !" 

Provisions of every kind were now exceedingly 
scarce, or rather they were not to be had from any 
other source than the store-house of the Howard 
Association in Norfolk, and from the Relief Com- 
mittee of Portsmouth, for the stores were closed, 
and the owners absent. " Our market," wrote 
one who remained at the post of duty, " must be 
numbered among the signs of the forlorn and deso- 
late condition which our city is realizing. The 
country people have deserted us entirely. A few 
servants from the vicinity, with their scanty sup- 
plies of cabbage, tomatoes, corn-field peas, okra, 
and herbs, are its only purveyors. We have none 
with poultry (save an occasional huckster or two), 
and no other sign of the produce of the farm-yard 
— no melons, no peaches worthy of the name — nor 
any other kind of fruit, save a few of the very com- 
monest sort of apples, which grow without culture. 
We had no idea before, that at this season, when 
the whole country is teeming with horticultural 
abundance, that it was possible for our market to 



60 HISTOEY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

exhibit such evidences of poverty. In a word, to 
pass through it as it was on Friday morning, we 
know of nothing better calculated to dampen the 
physical energies, and create a nervous sensation, 
than a view of such destitution as it exhibited. 
Thanks to the butchers, they continue to appear 
at their posts, and if their supplies . are scanty, 
they suffice for the small demand in their line ; and 
thanks, also, to the few fishermen who regularly 
attend to our wants in their line" 

The city presented a universal scene of destitu- 
tion and desertion ; but its appearance at night 
was, perhaps, more gloomy and distressing than in 
the day-time. The dwellings, as well as the 
stores, were all closed and dark. The dogs banded 
themselves together, howled dolefully, and prowled 
about silently, as if aware that something sad and 
unusual was going on, and in search of their mas- 
ters and of food. At an hour when, in other days, 
the piazzas and streets would present life, health, 
and gayety, the sound of a human footstep was 
not heard, and a familiar voice was something 
cheering to the heart. 

One night, as the writer walked through Main 
and other principal streets, a dark and lower- 
ing cloud had just passed over, and the moon 



EBTOKY 01 THE iT.sni.rxCE. Gl 

shone with unusual brightness, lighting up fully 
the deserted avenues and fashionable promenades, 
mocking, as it were, the scene of desolation below. 
Our spacious harbor, smooth as glass, and cleared 
of vessels, steamers, and sail-boats, reflected the 
moon's mild rays, and seemed more beautiful than 
ever. But, as we passed along, we heard the 
distinct words of inconsolable grief, uttered by the 
bereaved. Death had been in and dealt his blow, 
the victims had fallen, the remains had been 
hastily conveyed away, and sorrowing relatives 
and friends were weeping, and telling of their loss, 
in words that were full of affection, and deep 
meaning. We passed on, sad and gloomy enough. 
But soon there were other sounds that " held us 
delaying." We mention only one affecting case. 
On one of the principal streets, the windows of 
the second story of a house were all up ; lights 
were burning, and nurses were busy around a bed 
that stood in sight, and the groans of the dying 
that fell upon our ear, will, perhaps, never be for- 
gotten. We knew from the struggle that nature 
seemed to be making, that life was fast ebbing out. 
The sound was too heart-rending and unpleasant 
to bear, and we passed on again. The following 
morning, as we passed by, we were informed that 



62 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

the struggle was over. Death had accomplished 
his purpose. The conflict had ended. The vic- 
tims were still, breathless, dead. A fond mother 
and her son lay in the stirless slumber of death, 
side by side, on the same death-bed. Soon the 
busy undertaker was there, and then the mother 
and her child were hurried out to the graveyard, 
where they rest together, in deep, sepulchral 
stillness. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE FEVER IX PORTSMOUTH — THE TOWN BEFORE THE FEVER — 
THE INFECTED VESSEL THE WEATHER HELP FROM ABROAD- 
NOBLE CONDUCT THE TRANSCRIPT OFFICE CLOSES — PROMI- 
NENT LABORERS AMONG THE SICK AND DEAD — TRUE HE- 
ROISM THE NAVY YARD. 

Ix Portsmouth similar scenes of woe, desolation, 
and death were witnessed. 

" It could answer no beneficial purpose," wrote 
the editor of the Transcript, August 23rd, " to at- 
tempt to conceal or cover up from the public gaze 
the state of things now existing, and the present 
melancholy condition of our town. But a brief 
period has elapsed, since it was the favored resort 
of many, as a chosen spot, for its salubrious and 
enviable position, and as affording inducements 
sufficient to allure a brief sojourn among us. Then, 
we anticipated a prosperous future, and were, 
indeed, highly blessed by an All-wise Providence 
in the enjoyment of all those temporal privileges 
and advantages which man is accustomed to regard 
as such. How changed are our circumstances! 



64 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

An infected vessel is allowed, by the authorities to 
whom such power was delegated by the people, to 
come up into the harbor and at one of our wharves, 
and devastation and ruin are spread with a broad- 
cast hand, throughout a community which might 
have previously challenged comparison with any 
of its neighbors as to-health and cleanliness. But 
we cannot delay here to discuss this grave matter, 
but must leave it for the future, and when the 
desolating scourge by which we are afflicted shall 
be removed by the fiat of God, speaking through 
and by the objective laws which he has impressed 
upon the outward world. 

" The disease does not seem to abate either in the 
number of its victims or in the virulence of its' 
attacks. On Saturday last, and for a day or two 
following; the temperature was most unseasonable, 
and there set in from the northward and east- 
ward a cool, disagreeable wind, which rendered 
winter clothing comfortable. The thermometer 
within doors ranged some degrees below 70. It 
was this sudden and continued change in our tern- 
perature here, that resulted in a largely increased 
number of cases. Our medical attendance is be- 
coming precarious. Already two of our most 
prominent physicians have been taken to the 



niSTOKY OF Tin: PESTILENCE. G5 

United Naval Hospital — while another 

practitioner has been stricken down by the pesti- 
lence. But one out of the three drug establish- 
ments in our midst is kept open — two having been 
closed for want of some one, we presume, to 
attend in them, their proprietors having left town. 
But in the midst of all the discouragements by 
which we are surrounded, we are not without the 
sympathies of our friends — both adjacent to us and 
those who may be regarded as abroad. Help, sub- 
stantial help, is pouring in from every quarter, in 
the shape of provisions and money — so that the 
laps of the poor and suffering of our remaining 
population are daily filled with the necessaries of 
life, by which their present existence is at least 
rendered comparatively comfortable. Our sister 
towns and cities, as well as New York, Philadel- 
phia, and Baltimore, are nobly responding to the 
appeals of humanity, and call forth, in throbs of 
feeling, our cordial gratitude. We have, too, a 
few active men among us who remain at their 
posts, both of public duty and to minister to the 
wants of the needy and dying. One of these, 
we are pained to record, was stricken down on 
Monday afternoon, after a brief illness. This man 
among us was Captain George Chambers. Active, 



66 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

energetic, benevolent, he had been engaged for 
days previously in superintending the removal of 
the sick to the Naval Hospital. He now lies in 
the cold and silent grave! Peace be to him ! He 
was a most useful public man, whose place cannot 
easily be supplied. We cannot neglect here to 
name two of those who now remain among us, and 
who are actively engaged in ministering to the pre- 
sent necessities of our people. Colonel Winches- 
ter Watts, President of the Common Council, con- 
tinues actively employed in responding to various 
letters from abroad, and in ministering to the 
wants of the needy. James Gr. Holladay, Esq., 
has been a most useful citizen, thoroughly fear- 
less and indefatigable in his humane exertions. 
Others of our citizens might also be named, 
who have manfully stood to their posts in this 
hour of trial ; but we pass them by for the pre- 
sent, reserving to ourself the privilege for a future 
and more appropriate opportunity — with one ex- 
ception. 

" We do not know what our community would 
have done without Hezekiah Stoakes, former mayor 
of the town. He has been engaged incessantly in 
meeting the exigencies of these trying times. 
James W. Matthews, the Town Sergeant, has also 



BBTOBY OF THE PESTILBN01. G7 

been, in season ami out of season, actively and 
energetically engaged in the performance of his ac- 
cumulated and responsible duties. 

" Meantime the fever rages, and is on the in- 
crease. With these remarks, descriptive of our 
town and its present condition, we are forced to 
cdose — limited as we are for aid in our office, and 
having been compelled to work at the press our- 
self, in throwing off the last issue. We have but 
one compositor remaining with us, and his name is 
R. B. McDonnald." 

During the fearful reign of the pestilence in 
Portsmouth, there were many instances of self- 
sacrificing devotion in relieving the sick and the 
suffering, and burying the dead, that well deserve 
to be publicly noticed, and remembered with the 
most grateful feelings. But there was a period of 
about three weeks, when the pitiless death-storm 
raged so dreadfully, that the stoutest of the great 
hearts trembled with fear. The disease seemed to 
spare none. The death-dealing breath of the pes- 
tilence swept through the thickest part of the 
town, and the people fell before it, like soldiers 
fiercely charged upon by overpowering combatants 
in the hottest rage of battle. The dead lay un- 
buried upon the soiled beds, and sometimes the 



68 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

black blood of the parent mingled with that of the 
child. The most active and diligent members of 
the Sanitary Committee. were either sick or dead. 
But there were a faithful, undaunted, unflinching 
few, that were not touched by the shafts that flew 
every way, from the bow held, as it were, in the 
" fleshless hand" of the grim and relentless rider 
upon the " pale horse." 

The conduct of Mr. Wm. Brown, a quarter-man 
in the yard, familiarly called " Sweet William," 
was most praiseworthy, and, indeed,- remarkable. 
By night and day, he was seen hurrying in every 
direction ; administering to the wants of the sick ; 
going in the infected rooms; shrouding the dead, 
and assisting the undertakers in burying the putre- 
fying corpses. When many of his companions in 
the humane and hazardous work had fallen, he was 
still faithful to his mission, and worked manfully 
through the whole period of terror, unharmed, 
except by fatigue, as if protected by some charm 
withheld from the rest. 

It should be noted, too, that Holt Wilson, Esq., 
cashier of the Virginia Bank, remained at his post, 
managing the monetary affairs of the Eelief Com- 
mittee, in a prompt and most faithful manner — 
rendering service of incalculable value to his 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE, GO 

suffering fellow-citizens, and for which they are 
justly grateful. 

It was a subject, too, of just commendation, 
that Miss L. Bourk, an estimable lady of Ports- 
mouth, was exceedingly efficient and immensely 
useful in her efforts to alleviate the suffering — 
working diligently among the sick, not only in 
her own town, but also rendering most important 
aid to her diseased and dying relations in Norfolk, 
during the worst of the pestilential scourge. But 
there were others in both towns, who were dis- 
tinguished for conduct that has made their names 
dear to the people. 

" Mr. Hartt, the able Naval Constructor in the 
Navy Yard," wrote an eye-witness, " passed 
through the thickest of the fight, unscathed, leading 
where any dared follow — being both night and day 
engaged in attending to the wants of the living, 
and burying the dead. Appropriate name is his ; 
for a bigger or more benevolent heart does not 
animate the form of man. When we see a man 
who could leave, with little or no pecuniary sacri- 
fice, battling with such an insidious enemy, and 
seeking only to do good, we cannot refrain from 
speaking of it, though conscious of our inability to 
do him justice. 



70 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

"The other officers of the yard are worthy of the 
trusts committed to them, and manifested a devo- 
tion to duty and regard for the suffering not to 
be surpassed. 

" Such a corps of naval officers as we have, are an 
ornament to their profession, and have the respect 
and gratitude of the survivors of a dread calamity. 

" Of the eleven civil officers who remained stead- 
fast to their duty, seven have fallen : — N. N. 
Tatam, Timber Inspector, recently appointed; 
Patrick Williams, Master House-joiner ; John 
Vermilion, Master Boat-builder; John B. Davis, 
Master Spar-maker ; Richard Williams, Master 
Mason; Charles Myers, Master Plumber; Charles 
Cassels, Master Sailmaker. The families of some 
of these gentlemen are almost broken up ; only a 
son in Mr. P. Williams's family is left. Four 
grown and interesting daughters soon followed 
their father. 

" But I cannot particularize in speaking of these ; 
they were all good citizens, husbands, and fathers, 
reflecting honor upon their profession, and faithful 
to the duties devolved upon them. 

" All the departments in the yard suffered severe- 
ly. The spar-makers lost seven out of twelve who 
remained. The smithery, out of some thirty-four 



HISTORY or THE PESTILENCE, 71 

who remained, lost nineteen. I do not know how* 
to account for this great mortality among this 
s of mechanics. 

" When Mr. Allen, the head of the department, 
taken sick, Mr. Green was acting foreman. 
And he, too, the next day, was stricken down. 
Then, Mr. Totterdill, Mr. Ballcntine, and Mr. 
Snead, and each, in rapid succession, fell at his 
post, and all, except Mr. Allen and Mr. Snead, 
quickly followed one another to the grave ! Fearful, 
indeed, were the inroads of this fatal malady ; and 
long will the memory of these men be cherished 
by their shop-mates ! They w^ere all men of 
generous impulses and unsullied character." 



CHAPTER XII. 

ADDRESS IN BEHALF OF THE ORPHANS THE PHYSICIANS THE 

CLERGY COMMODORE MC KEEVER MEETING OF PHYSICIANS 

RESOLUTIONS LETTER FROM THE ACTING MAYOR THE U. S. 

NATAL HOSPITAL DEATH AND COFFINS THE COUNCIL OF 

PORTSMOUTH THE MAYOR OF THE TOWN ILL OF THE FEVER. 

The Rev. W. H. Milburn, formerly Chaplain to 

Congress, made an eloquent address to a meeting 

held in New York, to adopt measures to relieve 

the orphans at Norfolk and Portsmouth. He thus 

spoke of the medical profession and the clergy : 

" Need I allude, upon an occasion like this, to the self-devo- 
tion, to the heroic self-forgetfulness of that profession which 
claims at our hands, and at the hands of the world, such unmixed 
praise and homage ? I mean the medical profession. They may 
tell us of their heroes with their laurels dipped in blood from 
all the battle-fields of the earth ; but I tell you, sir, there have 
been scenes transpiring — there have been characters developed — 
there has been conduct displayed yonder at Norfolk and Ports- 
mouth, and in all the cities of the smitten South, that, when 
justly and rightly viewed, should overwhelm, and distance, and 
darken all your heroes of battle-fields, and- all your conquerors 
in the triumphs. Let it be remembered, that in those two smitten 
cities twenty-six members of that profession have fallen martyrs 
to humaDity. But let me allude to another class.. It is very 
much in vogue just at this time to speak with a sort of patron- 
izing contempt of the clergy — to allude to them as a set of 



BISTOBY OF THE ri.Mli.K.v 73 

haracteristie is. as Sydney Smith expressed it, 
ability.' They are to bo looked upon as a very v.vll- 
• set of men, who. if they are tiol doing 
much good, are certainly not doing muoh harm. Let those 

if they want to know what the clergy of his country are, go to 
of the pestilence, and see them in the hovels of starv- 
ation and squalor — in the graveyards from sunrise till midnight 
- the obsequies of religion to the dead, and com- 
mon to the mourners — Catholic and Protestant, 
in that awful hour of extremity, and tell me whether 
disability' is their characteristic?" 

The Rev. Samuel Osgood also addressed the 
meeting, and alluded to a class of persons very 
efficient in this pestilence — the public officers of 
the government. "The United States service," he 
said, •• has been nobly represented in Norfolk. The 
Navy Yard in Portsmouth is in the charge of one 
who unites all the virtues of man with all the 
heroism of a sailor. The chief of that Navy Yard 
has been distinguished by many eminent services 
in his life. He had once gone on a hostile island 
unarmed, with nothing but the flag of his country 
to protect him ; but he had attained a greater vic- 
tory by governing his men by love, not the lash. 
And now he had signalized his manhood in the time 
of pestilence."* 

* Commodore McKecvcr. lie has since died, greatly lamented 
by ti: ho knew his great worth of character and noble- 

BOUI. 

1 



74 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

September 25th a meeting of medical men was 
held, the proceedings of which we give below. 

Dr. Willimau, from Charleston, S. C, was called 
to the chair ; and Dr. West, from New York, ap- 
pointed Secretary. 

The object of the meeting was stated, by the 
Chairman, to be for the purpose of fixing upon a 
day when the delegations of stranger medical men 
might with propriety be enabled to leave Norfolk, 
and return to their respective homes. 

"During a few days past, a cool and delightful 
change has come over the pestilential atmosphere 
of the city, and a current report prevailed that 
many physicians and nurses were becoming idle. 
The experience of the Chairman, added to that of 
other Southern medical gentlemen, gives reason to 
believe in a rapid and approaching decline in the 
epidemic disease which has now desolated this 
population. 

"It has always been remarked, that towards the 
first of October, in Southern cities, a manifest 
abatement in the number of sick is observable. 
Already the prevalence of this epidemic is of long 
continuance. This circumstance, together with 
the fact of an atmosphere now much purified, and 
the more important consideration that most of the 



HlsTOKY OF THE rr.Mii r.vi:. 75 

inhabitants have Buffered illness, favors fche suppo- 
sition of early restoration to health. 
M UpOD Buch views, it might be predicted that 
foreign medical aid would not long be a necessity, 
and that such members of the profession as desired 
to Leave the scene of their recent labors, could 
now quit them with satisfaction." 

On. motion of Dr. Read, from Savannah, it was 

dvea. Thai a Committee be appointed to wait upon the 
1 inform him that October 1st be the day when 
stranger medical gentlemen, who have been on duty in Xorfolk, 
propose to leave this city. 

On motion of Dr. Freeman, from Philadelphia, 
it was 

Resolved, That all absentees be notified through the Howard 
Association, to remain away from Xcrfolk until physicians resi- 
dent here shall give them information that it is safe to return. 
I aat the city authorities of Norfolk be entreated to give a 
thorough and systematic ventilation to all residences and shops 
which have been closed during a month or two past ; and that 
such ventilation be not commenced sooner than the 10th day of 
October next. 

Upon inquiry by the Chairman, it was ascer- 
tained that only sixteen new cases of fever had 
been developed during the past day, in the practice 
of nine physicians, who were present. 

On motion of Dr. Read, it was 

>lved, That the Secretary be requested to write out the 
minutes of the meeting in due form; and that the Chairman 



76 HISTORY OP THE PESTILENCE. 

embody the same in a letter, and forward the same to the Mayor 
of Norfolk. 

On motion of Dr. Read, it was 

Eesolved, That such States or cities as had sent delegates to 
Norfolk, at any time during the. course of the epidemic, should 
receive honorable mention. 

Norfolk, Sept. 27th, 1855. 
Dr. A. B. "Willimax, Chairman, etc. 

Dear Sir : — I have received from you the minutes of a meeting, 
on Tuesday evening, of the physicians from abroad i who have 
ministered to the sufferings of our afflicted people during this 
season of pestilence, notifying me, as the acting Mayor of the city, 
of their belief in a rapid and approaching decline in the epidemic 
disease which has devastated our population, and of their appoint- 
ment of the first of October next as the day when they might, 
with propriety, leave Norfolk for their respective homes. 

The proposed departure of yourself and your gallant associates 
from the field, where you have battled so bravely against the 
monster death in its most hideous forms, is indeed, " confirmation 
strong," that the unwonted energies of the dreadful enemy are fast 
failing. The spirit that prompted you to your work of martyr- 
dom would retain you at your posts so long as there might be 
aught to be accomplished. 

It is, indeed, a matter for rejoicing, that the plague is at length 
in a degree stayed. Though disease has entered every abode in 
our afflicted city ; though " the pestilence" has walked " in dark, 
ness," and "the sickness" destroyed " in the daytime;" though 
tfre arrows of death have chosen the proudest and the dearest 
among us for victims ; though many have felt, for the time, in 
their bereavements, that all of earth's blessings were lost to them 
— yet, for the sake of the remaining few of our scanty popula- 
tion — for the sake of the infant, the orphan, the needy, and those 
who have a new weight of duty imposed upon them — for the sake 
of thousands who are exiled from their still clear and o»ce happy 
homes, and, I may add, for the sake of you, who have been con- 



LiisioKY or Tin: it.stii.f.xce. 77 

tending, with daily diminishing numbers, against the death-thrusts 

of the i\k\ away from your families and firesides, your pleasures 

or interests cheered on solely by the consciousness of doing 

on behalf of the helpless and the stranger, it is a matter of 

:i ulation to each other, and of thankfulness to Almighty 
; hut the rage of the epidemic has almost ceased within our 
limits. 

The annals of our civilization furnish no authentic record of a 
visitation of disease as awfully severe as that which we have just 
encountered. Out of an average population of some six thou- 
sand souls (much the larger portion of whom were negroes — a 
ekes lesa liable than the whites to the fever in its more fatal 
. about two thousand have fallen — a proportion of nearly 
one to three — and but few have escaped an attack of the disease. 
We are now a community of convalescents. 

Had we not received material aid from abroad — had not the 
different portions of our country sent their heroic delegations of 
ians, nurses, and stalwart co-laborers — had not noble 
spirits volunteered to the rescue (to die, if need be, like Curtius, 
forEome),our people must have sunk beneath the burden of 
their agony. There was a period, about the 1st of September, 
when the evil seemed greater than we could bear. Corpses lay 
unburied- the sick un visited — the dying unaneled. Our surviv- 
ing physicians were either sickening or becoming exhausted ; our 
remaining population was panic-struck at the sight of accumu- 
lating horrors and duties. You, who visited us for our relief, 
were astounded at the unrealized state of things which you found 
here — at evils the like of which you had never before witnessed. 
But nerving yourselves to the task, and telegraphing for reserves, 
you went resolutely forward with your science and its accompa- 
niments, carrying aid where it was most needed, and infusing 
vigor into many hearts that would otherwise soon have ceased 
their painful throbbings. 

Your noble bands, too, have experienced a worse than deci- 
mation, though many of you were acclimated to the disease in 
eCber latitudes before coming hither. A list, which has been 
carefully prepared from the original entries, and handed to me 



78 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

by Franklin H. Clack, Esq., of New Orleans (our efficient tem- 
porary Chief of Police), shows that, out of eighty-seven physi- 
cians and assistants who visited us during the space of thirty- 
three days preceding the 19th inst., twenty physicians are 
numbered with the dead ! This is exclusive of the mortality 
among our resident physicians, more than half of those abiding 
here having died ! No better evidence of the pure self-devotion, 
of the martyr-like spirit, which has actuated your Samaritan 
associations in hastening to our relief, can be furnished. 

The recommendations of your meeting, concerning a thorough 
and seasonable ventilation of the dwellings and stores which 
have been so long closed among us, and other matters requisite 
to prevent the continuance or recurrence of the dreadful pesti- 
lence, will be scrupulously and thankfully carried out by the 
authorities ; and, should you see fit hereafter to recommend any 
special system of quarantine, your suggestions would be most 
gladly received. 

In conclusion, allow me to express my regret that the assidu- 
ous devotion of yourself and co-laborers to the solemn duties 
which you assumed, the early day which you have fixed upon for 
departing, and the forlorn condition to which our remaining 
families are reduced, prevent the majority of our citizens from 
making more than slight individual manifestations of the pro- 
found gratitude which they cannot fail always to cherish ; and 
from giving such united expressions to their feelings as would 
be agreeable to them, and, I trust, not unacceptable to your- 
selves. 

Be pleased to accept, sir, for yourself and the bands of heroes 
whom you represent, the assurance of my warmest gratitude and 
high personal esteem. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

N. C. Whitehead, J. P., 
Acting Mayor of Norfolk. 

On motion of the Chairman, it was 
Eesolved, That the thanks of this meeting be returned to the 
Howard Association of Norfolk for the facilities which have 



1USIV.KY OP Till: 1T.STILENCE. 79 

extended by them to us in the conduct of our medical prac- 
tice. 

On motion of Dr. pead, the meeting then ad- 
journed. 

A. B. WILLIMAN, Chairman. 
Dr. West, Secretary. 
•.folk, Sept. 25th, 1855. 

On the 29th August, the Portsmouth Trans- 
cript contained the following statement : 

14 We do not know what would have becu the extent of the 
mortality and misery, had not the Council succeeded in obtaining 
the use of the United States Xaval Hospital in the present emer- 
gency. To the President of the United States, as well as "to the 
able and humane report of Surgeon Whelan, Chief of the Medi- 
cal Bureau, we are mainly indebted. The Commodore of the 
Yard here, too, has afforded every facility in supplying the 
demand for coffins, which Mr. Stoakes could not wholly meet. 

" Death — death — and red coffins are the sole subjects of con- 
templation and objects of sight at present in our community. 

u Our Council is without a quorum, and those of them who 
remain, cooperated with by a few citizens, have undertaken 
the management of affairs. The wants of the needy are supplied, 
and the sick and dying attended to, as well as our distressing 
position and circumstances allow. 

,; Our Mayor is now confined to his bed with the prevailing 
epidemic." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE FIRST WEEK IN SEPTEMBER FEARFUL MORTALITY ACCUMU- 
LATION OF CORPSES INCIDENTS OF THE PESTILENCE — LAMENT- 
ATION AND MOURNING THE CHRISTIAN'S DEATH-BED AND 

GRAVE THE RAPID WORK OF DEATH AND BURIAL PROMIS- 
CUOUS INTERMENT AWFUL STATE OF AFFAIRS THE PUTREFYING 

CORPSES LIE UNBURIED DEATH DOING HIS WORK FEARFULLY 

AT NIGHT THE ROLL OF DEATH. 

About the 1st of September, the scourge at- 
tained its most appalling fury in Norfolk. Long 
will that period of terror and death, the first 
week in September, be remembered by those who 
had not fled from the pestilence. The fever had 
assumed its most fatal type, and had reached the 
centre and most populous part of the city. Ber- 
muda Street was like one great hospital ; every 
house had its sick, or dead. On Briggs' Point, the 
most eastern portion of the city, the people were 
dying by the dozen per day, and in a space of con- 
siderable width, and extending thence across to 
the western limits, people of every class were -fall- 
ing like withered leaves shaken by the winds 
in autumn time. It was a time of intense excite- 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE, 81 

Bent and consternation. It was too late to fly ; 
lor those who fled as certainly fell as the bird 
fatally wounded by the fowler's shot. They ar- 
rived in Richmond, Petersburg, Hampton, and 
elsewhere : but the venom had entered the blood, 
and they lav down but to die. Here there were 
live hundred cases, and the number of deaths at 
one time reached eighty in twenty-four hours, in 
our small remaining population ! The corpses 
accumulated so rapidly that coffins could not be 
supplied for them. The hearses w T ere driven 
rapidly out to the grave-yards with two, three, and 
four at a load, and the coffined dead were piled up 
on the ground awaiting the opening of the graves 
and pits, by the insufficient force at work with the 
spade, the hoe, and the shovel. In that memora- 
ble week-, four hundred of the citizens of Norfolk 
were buried! There was no time for ceremony; 
the work of shrouding, coffining or boxing up, and 
hurrying the putrefying corpses to the places of 
burial, and of covering up the dead, went on hasti- 
ly and fearfully by day and night. But the heart 
shudders at the thought of the appalling scenes 
that were witnessed during the entire months of 
August, September, and October. 

There were incidents occurring daily and night- 



82 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

ly, possessing the most thrilling interest. Excit- 
ing dramas were enacted in the chambers over 
which the death-angel hovered and flapped his 
raven wings, and in which were breathed the fatal 
mildew vapors that poisoned the heart-blood of 
the occupants. In those infected rooms where 
Death entered, and so hastily and imperatively 
claimed his victims, there were most impressive 
lessons of wisdom imparted to the living. There 
were uttered words of fearful, and, also, of most 
pleasing import, confirmatory of the solemn truths 
of the Bible — of the eternal misery of the impeni- 
tent dead,- and of the unending joys of the de- 
parted Christian. Deep groans fell upon the ear 
like the last lingering, dying wail of the lost, when 
the attendant angel of hope has plumed and lifted 
her swift wings for her final and reluctant flight, 
and the scowling demon of dark despair broods 
over the soul. The shrill cries of orphanage, and 
the heart-rending complainings of premature 
widowhood, were heard at the deep midnight hour ; 
and affection's copious, gushing, burning tears were 
shed. There were mothers who, like Rachel, wept 
for their children, and refused to be comforted, 
because they were not. Lamentations came well- 
ing up from the great deep of maternal hearts that 



HXBTORY OF ["HE PESTILENCE. oii 

throbbed and quivered with emotion, and wrung 
with inexpressible anguish, while the work of 
death, and coffining, and wagoning, went on so 
fearfully, and the business ol' sepulture progressed 
so rapidly, by sun-light, moon-light, and torch- 
light. 

But there were incidents, too, of pleasing in- 
st, on which the mind of the Christian may 
dwell with pleasurable emotion. For some, the 
dread pestilence, that went forth in darkness and 
ed at noon day, possessed no power to affright, 
death no sting, the cold, damp grave no victory, 
boundless eternity — untried by the living, and still 
unknown to the dying — no fears, producing no 
alarm in the calm, quiet, peaceful minds of the 
pious victims of the scourge,, redeemed and saved 
by faith alone, in the precious blood of the "Lamb 
that was slain." Safely and confidently trusting 
in the merits of a crucified Saviour, they passed 
joyfully and triumphantly through the " dark 
valley," or launched out fearlessly upon Jordan's cold 
waters, glorying in the blissful prospect of entering 
safely the bright haven of eternal joys. 

These sleep w T ell now. — The beautiful wintry 
snow lias fallen above them as noiselessly as the 
rustling of the wings of the angels that came and 



84 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

conducted their happy spirits upward to the bright 

and heavenly land ; but it is not a wakeless, eternal 

sleep. " The winter is past, and the flowers appear 

on the earth," and they bloom upon their graves. 

" The time of the singing of birds is come," and 

they carol merrily above their " lowly beds." The 

bright summer time has returned, and the balmy 

breezes play among the green foliage that bends 

over the quiet resting-place of the peaceful 

sleepers ; and when the great day of the Lord shall 

dawn in its grandeur upon this sin-stricken earth, 

and the " awful Judge " shall descend, they will 

come up from the charnel-house where they lie, 

and stand forth in unfading youth, beauty, and 

glory, before the " great white throne." 

"And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me, Write, 
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth." 

How priceless did true religion seem, how 
inestimably valuable, true faith in Christ in that 
period of terror, of loathsome disease, of nature's 
sudden dissolution, when fond friends and relations 
were parting, or quickly following each other 
through the sombre "shadow of death;" or, indeed, 
pressing on together to the solemn portals of the 
tomb ! 

The following graphic sketch of that period of 



iiistoky OF THE risiii r.NCE. 85 

or and woe is from the pen of the venerable 
senior editor of the Herald, who remained during 
tin* entire progress of the scourge: 

••Xo pen can adequately portray the horrors 
of that dark period, which, brief as it was, has 
Bufficed to produce an age of misery and woe, 
unprecedented in the records of similar visita- 
tions. 

11 Yes, those who were safe from the pestilence, 
have, in numerous instances, been made to feel, not 
less keenly than those who were exposed to its 
terrors, the effects of its desolating ravages ; but 
they who were not present can form but a faint 
idea, if any, of its startling, its unearthly horrors, 
during the worst period of its career. The sick, 
with few exceptions, were far too numerous to be 
reported, and, ere it could be known beyond their 
immediate neighborhood that they were sick, the 
tidings of their death were spread abroad. Con 
sternation, hurry, and confusion were visible 
everywhere. The great anxiety at one period — 
from August 29th to September 4th, — was to pro- 
cure coffins for the dead, though the mortality had 
not then reached its maximum of sixty to seventy 
a day ! The undertakers, though constantly at 
work, night and day, could not half supply the 



86 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

demand, and rough boards were made into boxes, 
and boxes, that had been used for other purposes, 
were substituted for coffins. Into these, the dead, 
whatever their character or condition in life, were 
huddled, sometimes two together, and hurried off 
in a common cart or wagon, for interment in a 
trench, for want of time to prepare separate graves. 
Delicate and interesting women, aged matrons, 
and venerable sires in the respectable walks of life, 
were among the number subjected to this summary 
and revolting mode of interment — giving cruel 
poignancy to the grief of their surviving connec- 
tions. But it was unavoidable. Yet, in spite of 
all this indecent haste, many corpses were left 
unburied for twenty-four, and in some instances 
thirty-six, and even forty-eight hours — thus adding 
fuel to the fire, and augmenting the virulence of 
the disease. A supply of coffins (fifty in number) 
was received from the Relief Committee in Balti- 
more, on the 3rd of September, and eighty more 
from the authorities of Richmond on the 4th ; and 
coffins were continued to be sent by both, in 
numbers sufficient for the demand — so that this 
painful exhibition in the drama of woe was not 
repeated. There was enough without it, however, 
to have overwhelmed the sensibilities of the 



BBTORY OF THE PES ru r.NCE. 87 

stoutest heart in ordinary times; but to those who 
remained involuntary spectators of what was 
repetition had almost blunted the sense of 
W06 ; and events, the recollection of which is now, 
doubtless, wringing many a heart, made but little 
impression at the time of their occurrence — such 
is the force of habit. The city was wrapped in 
gloom. All the stores, and the dwellings of 
absentees, were closed; few were seen passing in 
the streets on foot, and these on some errand of 
mercy or necessity, or led abroad by curiosity to 
see and hear what was passing. Most of the 
inhabitants present were either confined at home 
by sickness, or in attendance on the sick, or, 
deeming it safer, preferred remaining within-doors. 
There was, however, no one place more safe than 
others. The disease was epidemic throughout 
the length and breadth of the city. And though 
there was the perpetual din of carriages, continu- 
ally passing, from early dawn till a late hour of 
the night — the physicians' carriages, and hacks 
conveying nurses and members of the Howard 
Association, and the hearses, and the ever-moving 
" sick wagon " — rattling and rumbling to and fro 
in every direction, and with unwonted velocity — 
there was no sign of wholesome animation — no- 



88 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

thing betokening vitality in any of the occupations 
of life but those of the physician and the under- 
taker. Every day brought with it fresh griefs and 
regrets for the heavy losses which the city was 
continuing to suffer, in the removal of its most 
valuable citizens — men who had directed its affairs, 
and lent a helping hand in various ways to sustain 
its credit, promote its prosperity, and embellish 
its society. There was no need of the daily press 
to spread the melancholy tidings. The night's 
disasters ran through the city each morning with 
lightning speed. 

" The sketch here given, represents with little 
variation, the woes of our sister city, Portsmouth, 
which preceded us in the dreadful race of suffering, 
and has drank her full proportion of the cup of 
affliction with us." 

On one day there were announced as among 
the dead, John G. H. Hatton, president of the 
Select Council, and teller of the Farmers' 
Bank, Alexander Feret, first accountant of the 
Exchange Bank, and Ignatius Higgins, the teller 
of the Virginia Bank. On another, William E. 
Cunningham, senior editor of the American Bea- 
con ; William D. Roberts, the delegate elect 
from the city to the Legislature ; Thomas C. 






uisroKY OF THE rr.sm.r.NCE. 89 

Dixon and Jolm Shuster, two old and highly 
respected citizens. On another, Richard Grate- 

►d, jr., one of the proprietors of the Beacon; 
Wilson B. Sorey, U. S. Deputy Marshal for the 
em District of Virginia; Bray B. Walters, 
proprietor of the National Hotel; K. S. Bernard, 
a well-known and skillful druggist; and Archibald 
Briggs, an extensive merchant. On another, John 
Tunis, member of the Board of Health, and capi- 
talist ; Dr. George L. Upshur, a distinguished phy- 
sician ; Josiah Wills, an extensive and enterprising 
merchant, and president of the Virginia Bank ; 
ex-Mayor William D. Delany ; and William P. 
Burnham, an extensive builder and skillful brick- 
mason. On another, Alexander Gait, post-master ; 
William B. Ferguson, an extensive merchant, and 
president of the Howard Association ; William 
Reid, ship-broker, and recent candidate for the 
mayoralty ; and on another, Charles H. Beale, 
inspector-general of lumber, formerly editor of the 
Daily yews, and an able writer; Caleb Bonsai, 
one of the proprietors of extensive flour-mills ; 
. John D. Gordan, a well-known banker, and Joseph 
Murden, an accountant in the Exchange Bank. 
But hundreds of other estimable citizens, of both 
towns, including many very estimable* ladies, 



90 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

young, middle-aged, and aged, useful and re- 
spected, were, hurried to the grave, and causing, 
when they fell beneath the crushing force of the 
scourge, a sad vacuum in the two afflicted com- 
munities. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THK LAMENTABLE CONDITION OF THE CITY — THE PREVIOUS HAPPY 
AND PROSPEROUS STATE OF AFFAIRS IN NORFOLK AND PORTS- 
ril — ELOQUENT AND THRILLING DESCRIPTIONS OF THE 
RGE. 

" Our city," wrote an observant and respected 
resident, " may be aptly compared to a ship at 
sea without rudder, or compass, or officers to 
direct, and with only a few hands at the pumps to 
keep her from sinking, and these nearly exhausted 
with fatigue. Such, in sad and sober earnest, is a 
similitude of its forlorn condition. Without a 
government to direct and provide for the public 
safety — a majority of the Court and Councils being 
absent; an onerous duty devolving on the chief 
executive officer, the Mayor, which is overtasking 
his physical powers ; the collection of the revenue 
suspended ; the city treasury locked up ! The 
Corporation is thus virtually dissolved, and nothing, 
it seems, can save the city from a state of down- 
right anarchy and perdition, but a committee of 
safety, assuming the powers necessary to meet the 
extraordinary exigencies of the time being. That 



92 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

committee seems to be already recognized in the 
Board of Health, the members of the Council Com- 
mittees who remain in town, and the Howard 
Association — whose exercise of the requisite re- 
sponsibilities, we feel assured, will be fully sanc- 
tioned and commended by the legitimate authorities. 
Let them do their duty to the city and to humanity, 
then, without hesitation and without fear of con- 
sequences. 

" We make these remarks in no spirit of com- 
plaint or reproof. The condition to which our 
city is reduced, as we have before taken occasion 
to remark, has been willed by an all-wise and 
inscrutable Providence, and is beyond all human 
control." 

" The whole country," said Eev. Dr. Doggett, 
in a masterly description of the visitation, " is ap- 
palled with the awful and almost unparalleled 
scourge which has visited, and is still desolating,, 
two of the cities of Virginia — Norfolk and Ports- 
mouth. Not only has the understanding been inex- 
tricably perplexed, but the imagination itself has 
been confounded, at the daily recital of those hor- 
rors which have filled their dwellings and their 
streets with mourning, lamentation, and woe. 
Three months ago, no communities reposed or re- 



ORORY OF nn: n>ni.i.\ 03 

joiced in scones of greater health or hilarity than 
they. For years, none have been more exempt 
from the ravages of disease. Beautiful gems on 
our Atlantic coast, twin sisters on opposite sides 
of the finest harbor in the world, they were shining 
in the pride of their beauty, and rivaling each 
other in the display of their charms, and in the 
resources of their merchandise. The spirit of en- 
terprise had awakened their emulation, and inter- 
nal improvements are directing the channels of 
wealth towards their marts of trade. Shipping 
of every class, and almost of every flag, from the 
line-of-battle ship to the pleasure smack, rode 
proudly at anchor, crowded their docks, or merrily 
ploughed their noble river. Churches thronged 
with devout worshipers, and musical with the 
chimes of bells, made their Sabbaths a blessing and 
a praise ; while refinement and luxury offered their 
soft allurements to the devotees of pleasure. 

" What are they now ? The angel of death has 
claimed them for his abode ; spread over them the 
mortuary pall ; shed through their atmosphere his 
pestilential breath ; hurled his fatal darts into every 
family, and rioted in a carnage more frightful and 
astounding than that of an invading army. Wrap- 
m the mysterious folds of his dismal mantle, 



94 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

from an invisible citadel, lie has issued his orders, 
and hecatombs have obeyed the summons, even 
before the unsuspecting victims had time to ask, 
When, where, how ? Beauty has had no fascina- 
tion, youth no innocence, health no strength, in- 
telligence no skill, business no plans, and piety no 
power to repel his shafts, or to retard their flight. 
From the cradle of infancy, from the hearth-stone 
of affection, from the bench of the mechanic, from 
the counter of the merchant, from the office of the 
physician, and from the altar of religion, his exac- 
tions have met with a success which has stunned, 
if not paralyzed, the most intrepid minds. The 
highest medical ability has been baffled at every 
turn, exhausted in every effort, and has been com- 
pelled to acknowledge itself as weak as the bald- 
est empiricism. Prosperous congregations have 
been despoiled of their membership, and pastors 
have been severed from their flocks. Happy 
households have been agonized with the spectacle 
of their loved ones dead and dying, at the same 
moment. Survivors have been doomed to the 
melancholy task of nursing, closing the eyes, 
shrouding and burying their own relatives. In- 
sufficient help has left others to suffer in solitude, 
and to expire unattended. Orphans have clamored 



His TORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 95 

feo parental hearts motionless in death, and have 
eased in numbers that will tax, for years, the 
charities of the good. Markets have deen deserted ; 
food has become scarce ; friends powerless ; and 
collins have been in such demand, that undertakers, 
at home, have been unequal to the supply; bodies 
have putrefied in the open air, been put into rough 
and unsightly boxes, or buried, by heaps, in pits; 
and the impurity of the infected air has emitted a 
corpse-like stench. Entire families have been dis- 
membered or extinguished. No one has been left 
to call or answer to the hereditary roll, and houses, 
once filled with cheerfulness and mirth, are as 
tenantless as the desert, and as voiceless as the 
tomb. Thoroughfares, once gay with business or 
with fashion, are horribly vacant. The hum of 
human concourse has yielded to the rattle of the 
physician's carriage, or the hollow rumble of the 
sluggish death-cart. The ominous plague-fly has 
made its disgusting appearance, and the howl of 
the watch-dog, separated from his master, has 
added its doleful note to the solemnities of a 
decimated population. Multitudes, seized with 
apprehension, have fled from their homes in af- 
fright, are now scattered over the adjacent country, 
awaiting, with mingled solicitude and hope, the 



96 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

consummation of this startling havoc of their 
friends and fellow-citizens. Still the tragedy goes 
on, and who is able to calculate its catastrophe 
or its termination! During this period, in our 
judgment, few, if any, less than three thousand 
human beings have left the walks of the living, to 
inherit the abodes of the dead, and with magic, 
but revolting rapidity and numbers, have created 
a populous city of graves conterminous with that 
so recently occupied and animated with their 
presence. 

" The ill-omened Ben Franklin, it is supposed, 
discharged the fatal poison from a foreign port on 
a Portsmouth wharf. Infested, no doubt, with 
local malaria, it instantly communicated its 
virulence, and from this terrible centre rolled its 
destructive tide, in utter defiance of all human pre- 
caution. Alas! that from this inconsiderable 
source, so calamitous a flood should have over- 
flowed two entire cities, and overwhelmed in its 
waves the very flower of their population ! Who 
can divine, who can explain the cause or the 
course of this portentous phenomenon? Philo- 
sophy owns its incapacity ; speculation surrenders 
its haughty pretensions ; and theology submits, 
without the temerity of inquiring, " What doest 



iiisroKY OF THE PKsTll.i.N !»7 

>u ?" Undoubtedly it is of God, who, in his 

rial character, atul for reasons infinitely wise 

ami good, has chosen thus to assert his preroga- 

: nor to avenge, on these cities, his wrath, but 
through them to display to the whole nation his 
august majesty, which they have ceased to rever- 
ence, and to exact that homage which is described 
in the words of the Apocalypse : ' Great and mar- 
velous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just 
and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.' " 

"On the northern bank of the Elizabeth river," 
said the Rev. R. S. Storrs, of Brooklyn, "in that 
ancient Commonwealth, the first settled of our 
Confederacy, within a town fronting a harbor com- 
modious and safe beyond most others — a town 
whose families have been refined, their hospitali- 
ties liberal, and their society charming almost to 
a proverb, the pestilence had commenced its deso- 
lating work. Matron and maiden, the husband 
and the son, the physician to the body and the 
physician to the soul, those of all ranks in life, of 
either sex, and of every age, the child and the 
grandparent, the slave and his master, alike were 
falling beneath its power. In private houses and 
in hospitals, in all places of usual public resort, 
in the streets and in the court-house, in the forest 



98 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

and in the fields, in the very sanctuaries of God, 
men met the descent of the invisible destroyer. 
No physical habit, no mental equipment, and no 
moral state, brought rescue or release. The love- 
liest form turned loathsome and expired. The 
manliest frame shook down, like a tree decayed at 
the heart, under the whirlwind, before that strange, 
appalling onset. Childhood forgot its smile and 
bloom. Old age was not spared for the calm steps 
of decline. The chief officers of the city, the 
nurses and attendants, the distributors of charity 
and the ministers of Christ, all sank together, with 
those whom they assisted, into one death, to be 
buried together in one grave. 

"Death was on every hand, in his austerest and 
gloomiest aspect, his sternest panoply of assault 
and destruction. And yet, as each one died in 
turn, as families disappeared, absorbed into the 
grave, as streets became silent* and cemeteries grew 
crowded, there were no other than sad relations 
attending the event. No forces ran out from it. 
moulding, exalting, or regenerating history. No 
pressure was lent by it to the progress of society. 
No blow was struck by it on barbarism, idolatry, 
and old decay. No light was shot on national an- 
nals. It was all an inevitable and promiscuous 



HMTOBY OF THE PBSTILENCB. 90 

dest ruction, unrelieved by any such moral rela- 
tions; the trampling of so much life from earth, 
with fearful certainty and more fearful celerity, 
amid terrific and appalling phenomena, without 
recall. * * * There burst no red artillery upon 
Norfolk, when the pestilence commenced there. 
No tremor shook the firm ribs of the earth, and no 
canopies of overhanging and thunderous gloom 
rushed up the heavens. The air was smiling and 
calm as ever ; the fields as green, the scenery as 
sweet as when each day came freighted with new 
pleasures, and business and friendship walked hand 
in hand along the streets. * * Men raised the 
window and death came in. They walked the 
streets, and he joined them at the corners. He 
met them in their business, put up the shutters, 
padlocked the door, and drove home with them, 
before a single plan for him was made. They fled 
abroad, but no rail-car outran him. They hid 
themselves at home, and their very rest was their 
ruin. * * We live every moment in the midst 
of an atmosphere, whose every drop, by some slight 
change, might, on the instant, be loaded with 
poisons, its motion become a desolating march, its 
pause a conquest of families and cities. The train 
is laid on every hand. One pestilential spark 



100 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

might kindle it to-morrow, and fill our eager and 
populous scene with clouds more dread than tljose 
which wrapped Pompeii in their shroud, or which 
now weave their glowing and swift desert-dance 
around the terrified caravan. How good to remem- 
ber, amid such exposures, that God holds all these 
powers in his hand ; yet how wise to be prepared 
to meet and greet death, whenever he shall 
come! ,? 



CHAPTER XV. 

iDENCE — THE FEVER STILL RAGES FEARFULLY — SAD 

EVIDENCES OF THE REIGN OF THE PESTILENCE THE COLORED 

PEOPLE — HOWARD ASSOCIATION — NATURE STILL BEAUTIFUL 

THE WORK OF THE UNDERTAKERS GOES ON RAPIDLY THE 

GRAVE-YARDS FILLING UP A SPLENDID MORNING THE HARBOR 

DESERTED THE SILENCE OF THE CHURCH-BELLS THE CLERGY 

THE SABBATHS OF THE PESTILENCE BURYING IN PITS 

MISTAKES IN BUBYING THE DEAD HASTY INTERMENTS. 

Early in September the writer commenced a 
regular correspondence with a daily newspaper 
in Baltimore, one in Richmond, and another in 
Petersburg. Letters were written, almost every 
day, during the greater part of that and the two 
succeeding months, describing, from actual obser- 
vation, the scenes of death and woe that were here 
enacted, showing the progress of the scourge, and 
giving the current and most interesting incidents 
of that time of desolation, dismay, and wretched- 
ness. These contain, perhaps, as true a history of 
the plague, and of Death's doings, as we could 
present in any other form. 

We proceed, therefore, to present extracts from 



102 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 






some of these letters. Although before published, 
they contain, it is believed, much that will 
prove interesting to the reader. The letters, 
generally, concluded with a long list of the sick 
and dead. 

Extracts from the special correspondence of the 
Eichmond Dispatch : — 

" Norfolk, Sept. 11, 1855. — There appears to 
be some abatement of the violence of the scourge ; 
but it still rages fearfully. The work of death 
goes on, and there are many new cases. With a 
large population the number of deaths would be 
correspondingly large. Norfolk, but two months 
ago, so busy, bustling, healthful and prosperous, 
now bears, on every deserted street, avenue, and 
square, sad evidences of the desolating reign of the 
pestilence. Widows and orphans have been made 
by the hundred. A thousand homes, but recently 
happy, are now desolate, sad, and comfortless ; and 
in some cases, the unsparing arm of the angel of 
death has claimed all, and they are quiet and stir- 
less tenants of the grave-yard. How terrible and 
extraordinary has been this visitation of Providence ! 
But I give you some particulars : The number of 
burials on the 1st inst. was about 76 ; on the 2nd, 
45; 3rd, 52; 4th, 58 ; 5th, 48; 6th, 66; 7th, 48; 



iust.oUY OF THE PESTILENCE. 103 

52; 9th, 66; 10th, 65. This is an awful 
mortality for so small a remaining population. 

# # # # # 

" It is certainly dangerous for persons to come 
to the city from abroad. Those who venture, 
almost invariably get the fever, and generally die. 
Very many colored people are down with the fever 
— several hundred — many have recently died, and a 
number are in a suffering or dying condition. The 
Howard Association is doing all in its power to 
alleviate distress, and lessen the force and power 
of the terrible disease/' 

11 Wednesday, 12th. — Many of our citizens are 
still falling victims to the scourge. There are 
lamentation and mourning in many parts of the 
town and in Portsmouth. We are yet in the midst 
of one of the most terrific calamities that ever 
visited any place. The people are still falling 
beneath the leveling arm of the destroying angel, 
at the rate of fifty a day or more! Men, unac- 
customed to weeping, are shedding tears now, and 
hearts are made to feel deeply and almost to break 
with grief. All nature looks beautiful and charm- 
ing; but here, in our ill-fated city, the silence of 
death and the look of desolation chill the heart, 
and depress the spirits. 



104 HISTGKY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

" We hear scarce a sound but that of the ham- 
mers, and saws, and wagons of the undertaker, and 
the rattle of the physicians' vehicles. Business has 
ceased, and the voice of mirth and revelry is not 
heard. 

" More than five hundred have been buried in 
the two principal cemeteries in eleven days. Many 
have been buried in the Catholic burial ground and 
elsewhere. There have been about 1,500 deaths 
in the city." 

" Monday, Sept. 17. — TJiis was one of the most 
delightful autumnal days that ever dawned in 
loveliness upon our beautiful world. Just with- 
out the limits of the city, the air seemed as balmy 
and invigorating as that of the mountain regions. 
I stood off this morning half a mile distant to 
southeastward, and looked over the splendid and 
capacious sun-lit river that rolls along in its 
strength and beauty, upon poor Norfolk — one of 
the two intensely afflicted towns — and no human 
being appeared upon its wharves, but recently the 
place of life, business, and activity. Near a hun- 
dred vessels, and a number of steamers, only a 
short time ago, were moored at the piers and in 
the docks ; now, a single, solitary ship, and the 
ferry steamers only, are to be seen upon the 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 105 

waters of our wide and deep harbor. The spa- 
cious warehouses are closed, the streets are silent; 
for the busy people that were there are either 
dead or absent ! The cupolas, turrets, and spires 
are Been distinctly towering above the numerous 
surrounding buildings; but the cheerful sound of 
the • belfry bell' is not heard. True, a few loud 
notes of the sonorous old bell of one of the 
churches broke in upon the stillness yesterday; 
but soon silence resumed its solemn reign. No 
sermon was preached ; no prayer was offered ; no 
exercises were held in any house of worship here, 
excepting, perhaps, St. Patrick's. 

" The excellent minister pro tan. of Christ's 
Church lies sick of the fever ; the familiar voices 
of the pastors of two of the Methodist churches are 
hushed in death — their remains sleep, profoundly, 
beside those of beloved children, in the cold, silent 
tomb. ' There is rest for the weary in the grave.' 
They spoke words of peace and comfort, and con- 
solation to the dying members of their flocks, and 
to others who preceded them in the dark valley, 
and their spirits, too, are now in vast eternity — 
gone to their reward — away from these scenes of 
death, and woe, and tears. Another minister, 

after battling with the fierce fury of the destroyer, 
5* 



106 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

and yielding to its power, has gone, disabled, from 
the scene, like a brave, but wounded warrior from 
the battle's rage ; while other faithful divines, 
valiant soldiers of the Cross, are in the chambers 
at the bedsides of those who have been struck 
down by the terrible destroyer. 

"A Sabbath without preaching and religious ser- 
vice ; but every day is like a Sabbath. No, alas, 
for the silence of the bells, these vacant, grass- 
grown streets, these untrodden sidewalks, with 
no happy Sunday-school children, present not the 
appearance of the blessed, hallowed Sabbath. And 
how many of those who went to the sanctuary, 
and, sad to say, those who went not, to hear the 
word of life, will no more be seen on earth ! The 
voices of many a pious one in prayer and praise, 
will no more be heard below the skies. Verily it 
is a time of mourning, and sadness, and tears here ; 
but, perchance, of glory, and gladness, and joyful 
greetings in the spirit land. 

" But enough of these gloomy reflections for the 
present ; and I proceed to give the death-list." 

Here followed the long death-roll. 

" Sept. 19. — The plan of burying in pits still 
continues. Eight coffins are put down side by 
side, then dirt is thrown in and leveled off ; then 



history of Tin: PESTILENCE. 107 

another tier, and so on. There have been as many 
as tour tiers. 

11 Mistakes in burying are common, and persons 
sometimes find it impossible to learn anything 
definite with regard to the place where their dead 
relatives have been deposited. Mr. Hawkins, the 
attentive superintendent, finds it very difficult to 
prevent incorrect and improper interments ; and 
when the fierce and furious destroyer shall cease 
its destruction of human life, and our people 
return to their homes, and to health and business, 
the authorities will, no doubt, attend to this im- 
portant matter — directing that more dirt, where 
necessary, be thrown upon the graves and pits, 
and thus prevent a result which might be at- 
tended w T ith the most serious consequences here- 
after. Unless the putrid bodies are placed suffi- 
ciently deep in the ground, and properly covered, 
a poisonous and offensive gas may escape, and 
produce another fearful pestilence. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



A DAY AND NIGHT OF BEAUTY THE DEATH-SILENCE DISTURBED 

BY THE ROAR OF CANNON AND THE TOLL OF A BELL — DE- 
SERTED MANSIONS — FURY OF THE FEVER LASTING EFFECTS OF 

THE PESTILENCE RESPECTED AND VALUABLE RESIDENTS FALL- 
ING MALIGNITY OF THE FEVER DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT OF 

THE HOWARD ASSOCIATION, THE POSTMASTER AND OTHERS 

HEART-RENDING "SCENE REFLECTIONS THE DISEASE RAGES 

STILL ITS DECEPTIVE AND MYSTERIOUS CHARACTER THE 

WEATHER RETURNING REFUGEES DANGER OF BREAKING OUT 

AGAIN DEATH OF A MINISTER THE GRAVE-DIGGER. 

" September 21. — This was a day of pleasant- 
ness and brightness. The sun went down in cloud- 
less glory, and now the moon shines forth clearly 
and mildly. It is a night of beauty ; one of the 
great guns of that leviathan of the waters, the 
Pennsylvania, has just roared out loudly, and its 
echoes have died away down the distant recesses 
of the forest, but rolling on, till heard distinctly 
even on the Atlantic shore ; and the loud tones of 
the ponderous city bell have just been flung out 
upon the still, ambient, and pestilential air. The 
sound was so like the slow and measured tolling 
of a funeral knell, that it aroused the mind up to 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 109 

a full sense of the doings of death in this ill-fated 
city. 

M Thousands of houses, many of which are 
furnished in costly and elegant style, are closed, 
tenantless, and dark, and as silent as the tomb. 
But, alas, in how many others is the fatal malady 
exerting its power on the occupants — a number of 
whom will be still in the deep sleep of death before 
the rising of to-morrow's sun ! 

" There is a large number of new cases in the 
suburbs, and in the northern section of the city. 

" The fever this week has been exceedingly malig- 
nant. The physicians say it is worse than any- 
thing they ever witnessed in the South. Many 
die in two or three days — baffling all skill and 
treatment. 

" We hope, however, for returning health and rest 
from the melancholy labors requisite in the midst 
of so appalling a visitation ; and surely two or three 
more weeks will terminate the course of the death- 
dealing agent. But the thick, dark cloud of sor- 
row that has hung over this city so long, may 
measurably pass away ; the atmosphere may re- 
sume its wonted salubrity, and the citizens may go 
forth without the fear of inhaling the dreadful 
poison of the life-blood ; but long years will not 



110 HISTOEY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

suffice to obliterate from the mind the heart-rend- 
ing scenes that have been witnessed here since the 
commencement of this awful scourge." 

" September 22. — Our remaining citizens are 
constantly shocked to hear of the sudden departure 
from our midst of our most useful and highly re- 
spected residents. We feel that the chastening 
hand of a just God is upon us. Alas, how many 
of those who were here but a few days ago, actively 
engaged in their duties, and in visiting and com- 
forting the sick and suffering, are gone to their ac- 
count ! We fancy we still hear the familiar sound 
of their voices in social converse. Verily, we are 
in the midst of death. The fever is jcontinuing 
fearfully and rapidly in its course, doing its deadly 
work upon the strongest men in from two to five 
or six days, and baffling the superior skill and long 
experience of professional men, and the most vigi- 
lant and careful nursing. But God's will must be 
done. His decree has gone forth, and the dreadful 
commission must be executed by the mighty angel 
of death, though hearts break, and the most power- 
ful men and the most amiable and lovely women 
be struck down by this terrible and calamitous 
visitation. 

" A thrill of pungent sorrow has been felt to-day 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. Ill 

by hundreds of hearts, from the intelligence of the 
death of the worthy and indefatigable President of 
the Howard Association. William B. Ferguson is 
no more ! He, too, has fallen a victim. Myste- 
rious, indeed, are the ways of Providence. Mr. Fer- 
guson had endeared himself to this afflicted people 
tw ties that even relentless Death cannot sever. His 
name will be remembered by old and young, rich 
and poor. The little ones, bereaved by the 
monster, will talk of his deeds of generosity, and 
love, and mercy for long years to come. Time will 
not obliterate the recollection of his efforts, of his 
energy and perseverance during the reign of the 
conqueror, in the full rage of the destroyer — at 
night and in the day. Alas ! he sleeps quietly now, 
from his labors and toils among the sick, the dying, 
the suffering, and the dead. Honor to his memo- 
ry! 

" Dr. Alexander Gait, too, our excellent, gentle- 
manly, and attentive Postmaster, has fallen. Only 
four or five days ago, he was faithfully engaged in 
the discharge of his official duties. Now, his well- 
known and active form is shrouded, coffined, en- 
tombed — cold, still, and wakeless in death, and 
silent in the grave. 

" Win. Reid, an enterprising merchant, recently 



112 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 



candidate for the Mayoralty, and an active officer 
of the Howard Association, has gone at the same 
time. He was, physically, a strong and exceed- 
ingly healthy man; but this is no shield from the 
malady. He leaves a large and interesting family. 

" Mrs. Delk, the lady of E. H. Delk, of the firm of 
Hardy & Delk, extensive merchants, died last night, 
quickly following her infant through the valley of 
the shadow of death. 

" Miss C. A. Crosbie, whose mother and sister re- 
cently died, was buried to-day. They formed a 
happy and very pleasant little family, and the de- 
voted trio, united on earth, have followed each 
other in quick succession; and thus does the un- 
sparing conqueror triumph, striking down whole 
families. ' Insatiate archer !' " 

" Samuel Lightfoot, son of the late Dr. Light- 
foot, aged sixteen, is also among the dead — an 
estimable, intelligent, gentle youth, comely in 
person and amiable in character, the prop of his 
affectionate mother, widowed but a few weeks 
ago. She and his fond sisters, whose pride and 
joy he was, gathered around his youthful form, as 
it lay still and pale in the cold arms of death, and 
a scene of the most intensely painful and heart- 
rending interest was witnessed ; and this is but 



HTSTOBY OF THE PESTXLEW E. 113 

one of many of the kind. How hearts are bleed- 
ing, and tears are flowing, and cries are ringing 

our here, and breaking upon the stillness of the 
evening hour ! The fairest, the best, trie most 
endeared and loved ones, are torn away from the 
hearts' that loved them, perhaps too well. 'The 
cold earth falls heavily and quickly upon them; the 
snows of winter-time will come down lightly and 
quietly, and rest upon their graves ; the wintry 
winds will moan there ; the spring flowers will 
bloom there ; affection's tears will fall there ; the 
breezes will bend the tall green grass that will 
grow there, and the gay birds will sing over them, 
and home-hearts will cherish them ; and there will 
be days, and months, and years of fond remem- 
brance. I must proceed now with the death-roll, 
having given you, in my last, the list up to a late 
hour of yesterday. 

•• Sept. 24. — The hope expressed in my former 
letters, that the fever would materially abate in 
its violence before this time, was vain. I am 
pained to state that some of our best men are 
still dying. The cool weather seems to increase 
the violence of the disease, and it runs its fearful 
course in a few days, in spite of the most skillful 
medical attendance and careful treatment. The 



114 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 



physicians are discouraged, and say they have 
never witnessed so unmanageable a malady. The 
patient often, after a lapse of four or five days 
from the commencement of the attack, seems to 
be in a fair way to recover, and the physicians 
pronounce him convalescent and out of danger. 
But suddenly the black vomit or another unfa- 
vorable symptom is developed ; in a few hours 
the sufferer breathes his last, and is ready for his 
shroud and his coffin. 

" The disease is lurking about the suburbs, 
entering the habitations of the poor and the des- 
titute, and striking down the strong as well as the 
weak. Indiscriminate in its attacks, however, 
the rich, as well as the poor and the lowly, are 
attacked — are speedily crushed by its irresistible 
power, and are as soon the tenants of the grave- 
yard as the least regarded mendicant. It is a mys- 
terious, terrible agent of destruction — a scourge, a 
fearful plague, that appalls the people, and causes 
the hardest hearts to feel — the most powerful to 
tremble. 

" Sept. 25. — I am highly gratified to inform you 
that the cool weather seems to have caused a rapid 
abatement of the fever. Our remaining citizens 
are at last cheered by the prospect of returning 



HISTORY OP THE PESTILENCE. 115 

health. There were forty deaths on Saturday, 
tty-five or thirty on Sunday, and only about 
fifteen to-day ! 

I October 2nd. — The weather is damp and 
warm, and the fever still lingers in our city, attack- 
ing the few who have thus far escaped, and who 
vainly hoped to be among the favored ones who 
will be allowed to pass uninjured by this fierce 
destroyer of health and life. 

" Some families, learning that there had been 
frost here, have ventured to return, and I hear that 
several have already died, and that some others 
are ill. It will be hazardous to come to the city 
before one or two good frosts — some. say, a good 
freeze and ICE. 

" The buildings, stores, dwellings and ware- 
houses, from cellar to attic, should be opened and 
well aired. Clothing, bedding, carpets, etc., should 
be exposed to the rays of the sun, and the cool, dry 
winds from the north and west ; and suitable efforts 
should be made to get rid entirely of the cause of 
the hateful disease, before the return of our people 
to their homes. 

" This fever is a most mysterious and invidious, 
as well as rapid and fatal malady ; and after the 
return of the thirteen thousand of our people from 



116 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

the healthful mountain regions, and the salubrious 
cities of the north and east, a few warm days in 
November might cause it to break out afresh, and 
fearful havoc might be made again. It will be 
wise, therefore, for those who are absent, to' be 
patient, and wait until physicians say that it is 
prudent to return. 

" October 4th. — I am pained to state that Rev. 
Wm. M. Jackson, the esteemed and faithful in- 
cumbent of St. Paul's Church (Protestant Episco- 
pal), died last night. At the still hour of midnight 
this good man closed his eyes in death, and his 
freed spirit took its flight to the land of eternal 
rest ; and to-day, at noon, his remains were con- 
veyed to the cold grave. From the commencement 
of the fatal epidemic, to the hour of his attack, he 
went diligently forth in the discharge of his pas- 
toral duties, speaking words of consolation to the 
suffering and dying, comforting the bereaved 
widows and the weeping orphans ; entering, at 
night as well as in the day, the ample mansions of 
the rich, and as readily the humble cottage-home 
of the poor, and doing his duty as a faithful minis- 
ter of Christ. 

" The death of this excellent divine has caused a 
deeper gloom to rest upon our citizens. At this 



hisi\m:y OF THE n>ni.i.\ 117 

time of distress and affliction, this sad bereavement 

is most sensibly and painfully felt by our communi- 
[e and his kind offices will be remembered long 

and fondly by a large number of our people ; and 
the scattered members of his flock will be deeply 
pained to hear of the death of their beloved pastor. 

11 Mr. J. is at least the fifth minister who has 
fallen at his post, during the reign of this dreadful 
disease. The names of Rev. Messrs. Chisholm, 
Dibrell, Eskridge, and Jones, have been added to 
the list of the dead. 

"Mr. Dubbs, the master grave-digger for the 
cemeteries, is also dead. During the long and 
tedious days and nights of the pestilence, he had 
superintended the opening of the numerous graves 
and pits that have closed over the loathsome dead 
that were crowded into the burial-places ; and 
now he, too, and his wife are both resting within 
the narrow limits of the tomb. 

"The weather continues cool, dry, and clear; 
but I occasionally hear of new cases : the disease 
is still very malignant in its attacks, and in many 
instances soon terminates in death. 

" A good frost, it is hoped, will put a final 
end to its existence in our city, and enable us to 
feel once more that the work of death has ceased. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE WEATHER — PHYSICIANS AND NURSES LEAVING — -REGRET — THE 

VICTIMS ALARM — THE DISEASE IMPARTIAL A FAMILY SWEPT 

OFF THE ORPHANS THE FEVER DISAPPEARING THE ABSENT 

CITIZENS REFLECTIONS WEATHER THE FLIGHT SOME OF 

THE VICTIMS PROGRESS OF THE FEVER A CHANGE THE CITY 

BEFORE THE SCOURGE, ETC. 

" Oct. 5. — There have been only three or four 
deaths to-day, and the disease seems again to have 
ceased its ravages. The weather has been cool, 
as before stated, for several days ; some thought 
it was cold enough for frost ; but, as yet, I have 
no satisfactory evidence of frost either in town or 
country. To-day the wind has changed to south 
again, and the temperature is much warmer. 
This, it is feared, will cause the fever to manifest 
itself again, and some, who have not been attacked, 
may not, after all, entirely escape the disease. 

" Many of the physicians and nurses, from the 
Southern cities, have gone home — their labors, 
among the sick and dying, have ceased, and they 
will have the pleasing recollection of having ac- 
complished great good, and of relieving many a 



uisroia' OF THE PESTILENCE. 119 

■offering man and woman here in our still deserted 
eirv, during the prevalence of the fever, that lias 
been so furious, in its attacks, and so fatal in its 
effects. Many of them have acted nobly, and 
rve to be remembered by our citizens with 
feelings of the profoundest gratitude. 

•• Some of our people who refused at the earnest 
solicitation of their friends to leave the city before 
the fever raged so fearfully, and who have lost 
members of their household, reproach themselves 
severely, and bitterly regret that they did not fly, 
and thus save the valuable lives that are lost. 
And others deeply deplore the fact that necessity 
compelled them to remain, to submit to the" fury 
of the pestilence, and see their fondest relatives 
die SHI conveyed to the grave. 

11 Oct. 11. — After a cloudy and stormy night, 
which succeeded one of the most balmy and de- 
lightful autumnal days that ever smiled on the 
world, we had again to-day a clear sky and bright 
sunshine, and the temperature is lower than on 
any other day of the season thus far. This in- 
duced our citizens to hope that we should have 
no more cases of the fever — and surely healthful- 
ness and freedom from disease will very soon take 
the place of sickness and death. 



120 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

" I was requested, a few days ago, by a person 
in the country, to inquire about a highly respecta- 
ble family on one of our principal streets. I called 
at the ample mansion this morning, and found it 
closed, locked, and vacant ! All was silent and 
gloomy. On inquiry, I learned that all the 
family had died of the fever. The household 
consisted of four persons — the mother, a sister, 
and two interesting daughters. They are all in 
the grave. How unsparing has been the furious 
disease that has spread over the entire limits of 
our city. 

" The orphans that occupied the Lecture Room 
of Christ Church, have been removed to the 
spacious building on Freemason Street, formerly 
used as a boarding-school by the lamenteV^lrs. 
Baylor. Last Sunday, they were in attendance 
at Christ Church during service, and excited the 
interest and sympathy of all who saw them. 
They were neatly dressed, and generally looked 
well. There were bright eyes, blooming cheeks, 
and active, graceful forms. The parents who had 
loved and nursed them had been taken from them 
by a mysterious Providence ; but kind friends care 
for and watch over them. They will not feel again 
the mild and endearing influence of a mother's 



iii>i\>i;y OF THE ri.> i ii.i v i:, 121 

and affection, ov a father's devotion and pro* 
lecting care; bu1 true hearts feel lor them, willing 

hands will save them from want, and care will 
be taken to render them comfortable and hap- 

py." 

let. L2. — I have no deaths by the fever to 
report, and I think there have been no new cases 
for nearly a week. There are, of course, quite a 
number of persons still sick, but they are nearly 
all eonvalescent. I believe there will be no more 
of the disease here, except among those who have 
returned too early. After several days of delight- 
ful weather, we have this morning a cold, damp, 
and almost wintry atmosphere, with rain and a 
piercing wind from the north. There will soon 
be a great rush of our citizens back to their homes. 
It is time now to prepare for cold weather, to lay 
in winter supplies of coal, wood, etc. The anxiety 
of hundreds who are away, and their desire to be 
at home and settled once more, are only ecpialed 
by the privations which many already feel, and 
the want and necessity to which they will be 
compelled to submit when they return. The in- 
stinctive love of life, and the fear of death, caused 
many to hurry off, whose means w T ere quite inade- 
quate to the undertaking. Their funds have been 

G 



122 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

exhausted, and some will find it exceedingly dim- 
cult to return, unless they depend entirely upon 
assistance from others, and receive it. They will, 
perhaps, think their fate a hard one, and deplore 
the distress and trouble which have been brought 
upon them by reason of the destroying agent that 
has been so long at work here. But those who 
return in health, who have probably saved their 
lives, and those of their wives and children, by the 
hasty removal, should feel thankful, and patiently 
submit to want and difficulty for a while. They 
have escaped the attacks of the dreadful disease ; 
they have not been compelled to witness the 
awful scenes of death, suffering, and affliction that 
have occurred here ; they have not been depressed 
by the silence and desolation that have reigned 
here ; and the groans of the dying and the 
cries of the bereaved have not fallen upon their 
ears. 

" Let all whose lives are spared be determined 
to make the best of life hereafter ; to go diligently ■ 
to work again, and strive in eveiy way to lessen 
the remaining force and effects of the great storm 
of distress that has swept by and borne off the 
people by its resistless power. 

" But our city will recover rapidly from the 



HIstoky OF THE PESTILENCE. 123 

v she has received. Men of enterprise, char- 

t. and capital are left, and others are coming. 

I schemes of local advancement will be put 
forth, and carried out to completion ; enterprises 

general commercial good and advancement 
will soon go on with renewed activity; the wide 
vannnn created by death will be soon filled up, 
and the bright sun of prosperity will beam down 
upon our city alter the dark night of gloom and 

>w that has now passed to its shortest hours." 
let. 14. — It has been sufficiently cold to-day 
for fires and thick winter clothing; and, unless 
there is a change, there seems but little reason to 
tear an attack of the yellow fever. I still hear 
occasionally, however, of new cases. 

" I will venture some facts in connection with the 
progress of the mysterious and fatal epidemic that 

remained here so long, and made so many 
houses vacant, and so many hearts sad. 

11 It is quite certain that the rapid and precipitate 
flight of nearly two-thirds of the people was a for- 
tunate and wise movement ; for, in the small popu- 
lation that remained, how extraordinary and fear- 
ful the mortality ! The few remaining white 
citizens would, no doubt, have gone from the city, 
or the greater part of them, had they expected a 



124 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 



visitation so indiscriminate and fatal in its attacks 
upon health and life. 

" Among those who have fallen, the Mayor, Hun- 
ter Woodis, has naturally excited the deepest in- 
terest and sympathy of this and other communities. 
Actuated by the noble impulses of his nature, he 
labored in behalf of the sick and suffering, till com- 
pelled himself to yield to the power of the de- 
stroyer. But before the disease had spent its 
power upon the people, how many good and use- 
ful residents were taken? How many of our most 
estimable citizens, both male and female, were 
victims of the desolating scourge? Ten of our 
own physicians — men of great skill and experience 
in their profession, and some of them of extensive 
literary acquirements — have fallen. No one ima- 
gined, when the fever first broke out, that so many 
able physicians would fall. 

"In the two cities, seven ministers were taken: 
three Methodist; two Protestant Episcopal; one 
Catholic ; one Baptist. The three other members 
of the resident clergy who remained in the city 
were ill; two lost their wives, and one, an only 
son. Some of those who died were soon followed 
by other near relatives, including a daughter and a 
son. 



HISTORY OF THE PE8TILENOE. L25 

"Among the large number of ladies who died, 
there were some who were noted for their piety, 
ulness, and good works. 

M The churches have sustained an incalculable 

rear bereavement, in the death of female 

members, who were immensely useful, and whose 

- of love and benevolence will be remembered 

long and fondly by those who are left to mourn. 

11 The representative elect of the city is dead ; a 
number of offices are left vacant ; the president 
and teller of one of the banks are dead ; the first 
and second accountants of another ; the teller and 
discount clerk of another; the proprietor, chief 
clerk, and book-keeper of another ; and the cashier 
of still another, are in the grave, and the wives of 
at least three of these are also dead. 

" The president of the Seaboard and Roanoke 
Railroad, and the treasurer of the Norfolk and* 
Petersburg Road and his wife are gone ; the pre- 
sidents and other members of the Select and Com- 
mon Councils, and several of the Board of Health, 
are dead ; the Postmaster and one of his clerks, the 
senior editor of the Beacon, the associate proprie- 
tor, the estimable foreman of the Argus, and others 
connected with the city papers, were taken. 

" Three of the Custom-house officers are dead ; 



126 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

the Deputy U. S. Marshal of the District and the 
physician to the Marine Hospital are gone; the 
Superintendent and Instructress of the City Or- 
phan Asylum is dead; the Inspector-General 
of Lumber, the gentleman who held the offices 
of the Treasurer of Christ Church, of the Norfolk 
Military Academy, and Secretary of the Norfolk 
Provident Society, is dead. The jailor, who was 
also one of the Sergeant's deputies, and several of 
the city constables, together with others, whom 
I have not mentioned, are among the deceased 
office-holders. All the hotel proprietors died. In 
Portsmouth, too, many offices have been rendered 
vacant by death. 

" Among thejew who have not had the disease, 
are some of the oldest citizens. There is one 
eighty-seven years of age, and another seventy- 
six — the former a native of Scotland, but for 
nearly fifty years a resident of this city, and still 
active — who have not had the fever. The younger 
of the two is a native of England. 

" There were, doubtless, many whose sickness 
was aggravated, and whose death was hastened by 
alarm. The disease, aiming its deadliest blows at 
the nervous system, and aided by fright and the 
fear of death, prostrated completely, in a day, 



msroKY OF THE PESTILENCE. 127 

e of the strongest, as well as many of the frail 
ami infirm. Those who were addicted to intem- 
perance and other habits of dissipation and irregu- 
larity, generally fell an easy prey to the destroyer. 
But, as I have before stated, no particular class 
favored ; persons of every description, of all 
habits, and every shade of moral character, and 

grades of physical constitution, swelled the 
list of the dead. The greatest personal pre- 
caution, the most able medical skill, the most vigi- 
lant watching, the most tender and careful nurs- 
ing ; the prayers and tears of devoted relatives 
and friends ; the most heart-rending shrieks and 
lamentations of women ; the loud, shrill cries of 
sons and daughters of tender years, suddenly 
aroused to a full, dread sense of the loss to be 
sustained — all, all were unavailing. Beating 
hearts grew still ; eyes closed on all earthly 
things, and death would have the victory." 

" Oct. 1-5. — The return of warm weather, and 
also of some of the refugees, has caused the yellow 
fever to develop itself again in some new cases. Mr. 
Beane, painter, and several others, among those who 
have come back, are down. Another son of the 
late Col. John G. Colley died to-day, and also Miss 
Jane Lee. These have been ill for several days, 



128 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

and have not been from home. The wind having 
changed to the south again, the temperature is 
warm, and it is probable there will be several days 
of mild, spring-like weather. 

"Let those who are absent beware how they re- 
turn to this poisoned atmosphere, which, though 
apparently not injurious to those w T ho are here, 
and who have gone through the ordeal, would, no 
doubt, be fatal and deadly to those who might come 
from abroad. 

" The progress of the yellow fever here has been 
very singular, and those who have been careful 
and thoughtful observers of its progress, have not 
only been impressed with the malignity and rapid- 
ity of its attacks, but with its steady, gradual pro- 
gress in a northerly direction, from its commence- 
ment. Manifesting itself in Gosport, a few rods 
from the massive gate of the United States Navy 
Yard, it soon spread desolation and dismay among 
the people, who fled panic-stricken in every direc- 
tion. In a week or two it reached Portsmouth — 
treading on slowly, silently, invisibly, and fearful- 
ly. Soon Portsmouth was in alarm — the monster 
was there striking down some of the best of the 
citizens. Five,, six, seven, etc., died in a day. 
Then the citizens hurried aw T ay by the thousand, 



BB9T0BY OF THE ri> ill. i:\CE. 120 

leaving but few to contend with the enemy and 

submit to its at lacks. Twenty, and as many as 
thirty, died daily, and there were four hundred 
- in the town. Disease, suffering, and death 
combined to render Portsmouth one of the most 
intensely atllicted communities in the world. 

" But the epidemic slowly strode on to Norfolk, 
and in a week or two the alarm was given that the 
yellow fever had broken out in Barry's How. The 
number of cases increased, the people hurried 
away, in consternation ; but enough were left to 
feed the voracious cravings of the destroyer. Soon 
it appeared on Main Street, then marching quietly 
on, in six weeks it had spread in almost every part 
of the city. Xow, after the lapse of ten weeks, it 
still lingers about the suburbs. Satisfied at first 
with three or four victims per day, no less than 
eighty would appease the violence of the monster 
when its power was exercised to its full force. 

" Then the mortality gradually subsided to fifty 
per day ; which continued for a week. After which 
there were reported forty, thirty-five, thirty, etc., 
every twenty-four hours, until nearly every re- 
maining citizen had either died or recovered from 
the disease." 

" Oct. 16.— -A press of business to-day prevented 

6* 



130 HISTOEY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

me from ascertaining definitely the facts with regard 
to the fever in the city. But I can state on authority 
that seems reliable, that there are several new cases, 
and that there have been four or five burials to- 
day. The new cases are, with one or two excep- 
tions, among those who have returned. I shall be 
prepared to give the names in my next. 

" Matters are assuming a much more encouraging 
aspect. I will mention several things that are 
calculated to excite hope, and relieve the hearts of 
the people of a portion of the burden of sorrow 
that has oppressed them so long : The appearance 
on the streets of many who are rapidly recovering 
from sickness ; the opening of some of the stores ; 
the increase of the number of carts and wagons at 
market ; the arrival of a schooner in port, loaded 
with coal ; the re-issue of three of the daily pa- 
pers ; a full supply of wood in the dock ; the ap- 
pearance of ladies down town on some of the 



principal business streets, and a much greater 
noise made by drays and carts passing from place 
to place loaded with goods. But Norfolk is still a 
dull, gloomy city — a mere wreck compared with 
its former activity, bustle, and advancement. 

" Signs of life and returning vigor appear, how- 
ever, and the effects of the powerful blow that 



HlsroKY OF THE PESTILENi 131 

inflicted are gradually passing oil". Like a 
strong man, who had been overpowered and de- 
prived for a while of his ability to act and more 
with his accustomed strength and force, our city 
ill sadly deficient in the usual characteristics 
pf active business, advancement, and prosperity. 
Hundreds of the stores are closed, and hundreds of 
our most enterprising and extensive merchants are 
absent, and they dare not return to the city. And, 
alas, a number of the best of those who remained are 
silent in the grave. It is believed, however, by 
men of intelligence and sound judgment, that, 
after the return of the citizens, and after the lapse 
of a few weeks, required to bring the various de- 
partments of business into their wonted channels, 
a new impulse will be given to commerce and 
local enterprises of every description, and that the 
progress of the city will be retarded but little, if 
any, in business and general prosperity. Some, 
however, are not of this opinion, and are dis- 
couraged, improperly asserting that many years 
will be required to place Norfolk and Portsmouth 
in the position in which they were found by the 
raging pestilence that has blasted so many bright 
hopes, and arrested the progress of so many enter- 
prises of importance. 



132 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

"Almost every interest of the city was in a 
prospering condition. A heavy business was 
transacted by many of our merchants and trades- 
men ; manufactories were busy and nourishing; a 
large number of vessels rode at our wharves ; pub- 
lic and private buildings were being erected in 
different parts of the city; men of enterprise, 
character, and capital, were hastening hither, and 
settling among us ; and the least visionary of our 
citizens thought their hopes of rapid advancement 
to increased wealth and greatness were based upon 
a sure foundation. But suddenly all were ap- 
palled ; commercial transactions were soon at an 
end, the ponderous wheels of machinery ceased 
to revolve, and were soon neglected, silent, 
and rusty ; vessels of every class — the ocean 
ships, the noisy steamboats, and the slow-moving 
canal boats — left our waters ; buildings, large 
and small, were left half finished on every 
street. 

. " But the pestilence has passed, and it is hoped 
will return no more, for many long years, if ever. 
Let those, therefore, who are here be hopeful and 
active — those who are absent be patient till pru- 
dent to return, and then engage in the work of 
restoring our lost energies, and establishing our 



msTOKY OF THE risiii.rv 133 

former character of commercial importance and 
rapid local advancement. 

•• Tlu' physicians have decided that the absentees 
should nor return until freezing weather. There 
od reason for this decision. Let it be heeded 
by our absent people ; anxious as they may be to 
return, and delighted as their friends here would 
be to see them." 



• 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

CORRESPONDENCE THE BUSINESS OF THE UNDERTAKERS |AND 

GRAYE-DIGGERS NATURE BEAUTIFUL MOURNING NUMBER 

OF DEATHS DIMINISHING— THE FEVER SUBSIDING THE CHANGE 

DESOLATION SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE DEATH AND BURIAL 

WEATHER PHYSICIANS AND NURSES A NIGHT IN THE PESTI- 
LENCE NORFOLK DURING THE SCOURGE— THE SICK AND THE 

DEAD INCIDENTS OF THE PESTILENCE THE VICTIMS A MEMO- 
RABLE WEEK THE EPIDEMIC DEATH'S FEARFUL WORK — THE 

WEATHER AND THE FEVER RETURN OF REFUGEES THE CAREER 

OF THE PESTILENCE AND ITS VICTIMS. 

Extracts from the special correspondence of 
the Southside Democrat, Petersburg : 

" Sept. 12. — The business of the undertakers and 
grave-diggers still goes on flourishingly here and 
in Portsmouth. Verily, it is terrible to contem- 
plate the gloom and desolation that reign here. 

" The sun shines on as brightly, the breezes are 
as gentle, the gay birds sing as sweetly, the in- 
sects hum as merrily as ever. But yonder go the 
death-wagons with the corpses, hurrying on to the 
silent repository. 

" I have seen strong and stout-hearted men 
weeping in our streets to-day. It is a time of sor- 



■H nil-. rr.M'ii.KNri:. 135 

and woe, and death, and sad. sad bereave* 

ment. Widows are weeping and refusing consola- 
tion ; helpless orphans are uttering their heart- 
pending and piteous cries; and there are talei, 
of woe that reach down deep in the heart, and 
cause the whole frame to shudder and tremble." 

" Sept. 14. — The number of new cases and 
deaths, I am happy to state, is still diminishing, 
and a ray from the star of hope has gleamed down 
at last upon our forlorn city. This is, indeed, some 
relief from the constant panic and dread that were 
so observable but a day or two ago. There are 
still many cases, however, and death claims his 
victims by the dozen." 

u Sept. 15. — I am glad to say, the rage of the 
fever begins at last to subside — a brighter day has 
dawned upon us, and we feel some relief from the 
ponderous weight of woe that has crushed us down 
so long. Our citizens that are well, breathe easier, 
and there are even some cheerful, smiling counte- 
nances. The feeling caused by the change, may 
be akin to that produced by the probable escape 
from shipwreck, when hope had plumed her wings 
and flown, when the sea yawned to receive its 
helpless, hapless victims ; after the battle with the 
wild fury of the howling storm-spirit had ceased, 



136 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

and the frail bark had careened hopelessly to the 
play of the winds upon the surging billows. The 
fearful dread of disease, the vomito, delirium, gan- 
grene, death, and the cold, damp grave, has mea- 
surably passed away from the minds of some. 
The people, some of them, again think of health 
and returning friends ; of fond caresses, joyful 
greetings, and happy, peaceful firesides. But alas! 
how many are desolate, inconsolable, gloomy, 
heart-broken ? And as they attempt to tell of the 
great loss they have sustained, tears bedim their 
eyes, and their utterance is choked — they turn 
away in deep, heart-felt, inconsolable sorrow and 
distress. 

"I have gone in the infected room, and witnessed 
the fearful disease in all its various stages — the 
chill, the pains — pains in the head, the back, the 
limbs, the breast, the bowels, and sometimes all 
over and through the entire system. One told me 
that the flesh seemed to be torn from his limbs. 
But in some cases the pains are not very severe. 
And then, the fiery, yellowish or reddish, and mel- 
ancholy eye ; the saffron tinge of the cheek ; the 
parched, dry skin, and the dozy, drowsy, sleepy 
feeling that comes over the sufferers, and precedes 
dissolution, and the black vomit, and often the 



m>Toi;Y of the pestilence. 137 

■ I vomit, when the patienl throws up quarts 
of pure blood, and ii comes from his nose and his 

mouth in a stream. Then death lias marked his 
victim, and youth, loveliness, goodness, nothing is 
►ected; the man, the woman, the child, the 
friend, the parent, the dearest companion, must 
die. and be buried, and buried quickly, or else fill 
the air with the hateful pestilential stench, as has 
been, sad to say, but to^o often the case during the 
fearful time of woe, almost unequaled, and death 
and desolation without a parallel, in this recently 
prosperous and happy city. 

" The weather is damp and sultry ; wind east, 
but only a very light breeze during the day. Heavy 
showers this morning, deluging the streets, and 
filling up all the low places from which the water 
cannot run off. 

" There are a number of valuable nurses here 
from New Orleans, Mobile, Charleston, and a dozen 
able physicians, etc., and they are invaluable and 
indispensable. It would be difficult to tell what 
the people w r ould do without them. Many per- 
sons have died for the want of proper and efficient 
nursing. 

"It is now half-past nine o'clock, p.m. (Saturday). 
The young pale moon has just gone peacefully 



138 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

down behind the tall mountains and dense verdure 
of the west. The tramp of the horses of the phy- 
sicians, and the rumbling of the hearses, with the 
dead, over the dull stones, and the wagons with the 
sick for the Hospital, have nearly ceased for the 
night. The lowering clouds have passed away, 
the twinkling stars look down smilingly upon 
us ; the bright gas-lights are sending forth their 
rays, and, in hundreds of # houses, dim lights are 
seen from the windows, while the fever scorches, and 
burns, and kills its victims in the infected chambers. 

" To see Norfolk as it is now, causes the most 
strangely sad and doleful feelings. Few, if any, 
at a distance, can realize the desolation that now 
reigns, the mournful aspect of all things visible, 
notwithstanding the seeming abatement of the 
pestilence. 

" Let us step in that house, where the fever 
rages ; almost every window is dimly illuminated. 
Here are father, mother, children, servants, all 
suffering from the treacherous, fatal, mysterious, 
malignant distemper, that parches the skin, crazes 
the brain, crushes the spirits, feeds upon the heart- 
blood, and paralyzes all the vitals. Can the scenes 
that are witnessed here ever be obliterated from 
the mind ? 



history ov Tin: PESTTLEN< r.. 130 

'• This hurried letter is now Long enough, and I 
throw down my pen, and try to rest. But 
• the sorrow, the alarm, the disappointed hopes, the 
dt-solate homes, the loss of dear friends, the deatli 
of so many noble men, elegant women, and lovely 
children — the thought of these will drive the neces- 
sary Bleep from my couch, or dreams of death and 
coffins, and ghastly corpses, and death-struggles, 
may cause a night of trouble and restlessness." 

" Sept. 21. — After four or five days of damp, 
cloudy and rainy weather, this morning, at nine 
o'clock, the lowering vapors passed away, and the 
sun shone out brightly- and cheeringly, affording 
some relief from the long days of darkness and 
gloom. 

" The physicians are still actively engaged in 
various parts of the city, and especially in the 
northern and northwestern sections, where the 
disease is still at work, finding its way in almost 
every house, large and small, and leaving few fami- 
lies, if any, without sufficient cause of mourning 
and grief. 

"A faithful history of this fearful pestilence 
would be one of the most heart-rending pro- 
ductions ever written. There have been events 
during the continuance of the scourge, and con- 



140 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

nected with the doings of Death, that would 
answer well the foundation of the most thrilling 
romance. 

" A few short weeks ago, there were many fami- 
lies here — father, mother, and children — all in the 
enjoyment of health, happiness, and plenty, and 
looking forward to long and peaceful years to 
come ; but who are now, all, or nearly all, dead and 
slumbering in the silence of the grave, while their 
spirits have entered upon their eternal destiny. 

" In very many happy homes, the fairest, the 
loveliest have fallen, the roseate blush of health 
upon the full cheek of youthful beauty has sud- 
denly changed to the sallow hue of the fatal 
disease, the cheerful countenance has assumed the 
ghastly look of death ; and then the cherished ob- 
ject of fond affection has been borne away quickly 
to the charnel house. 

" How many houses of mourning there are here, 
and how quickly made ! — the symptoms follow each 
other quickly — and then the stillness and ghast- 
liness of death, the coffin, the hearse, the damp 
grave. The physician's skill, nursing, watching, 
prayers, and tears have all proved unavailing. 

" How many pleasant and familiar countenances 
have gone ! How many voices hushed ! What 



UiSTOKY OF THE it iii.ini i:. 1 11 

numbers o( graceful, active (onus have been pal- 
sied by the touch of Death's cold finger, since the 
commencement of this frightful scourge ! 

11 1 will allude to one family, well and favorably 
known. There were nine members. All had the 
r, and one only recovered. The father, mother, 
daughter, sons, and other members of the house- 
hold have been cut down in two short weeks. 
The spacious house is left unoccupied : the single 
one spared has gone sorrowing from the scene of 
death — the chambers where his dear relatives met 
their fate." 

" Sept. 2:2. — Another week of sickness, suffering, 
aud painful death-scenes in this infected city, 
has passed, and, during its progress, upward of 
two hundred more of our citizens have gone to 
the grave. 

" This is a week to be remembered with sorrow 
for many a long year to come ; for numbers of our 
most esteemed, worthy, and useful citizens have 
died of the terrible fever that has so long been at 
its cruel work in our midst. The loss of them 
cannot be estimated to their families, their relatives, 
and friends, and to this intensely afflicted city. 
An epidemic of a more fatal type was scarcely 
ever known in any part of the world — on any con- 



142 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 



tinent in either hemisphere. It has baffled the 
skill of the physician, and rapidly run its course 
till it has terminated in death, in spite of medicine, 
watching, or the most careful nursing. 

" How many of the loved and loving ones have 
been snatched away by the fell destroyer ! Alas ! 
they are dying — dying in the spring-time of life, 
as well as in the ripe maturity of manhood and 
womanhood, and in the winter-time of age and de- 
crepitude ; and homes are left so cheerless and 
comfortless, that long, monotonous years will not 
suffice to give back the wonted comfort and hap- 
piness, or to relieve the sorrow that cruel Death 
has caused." 

" Sept. 24. — The weather is getting cool. Sep- 
tember will soon be gone, and we are beginning 
to think of frosty mornings, healthful air, and the 
return of our scattered people to their homes and 
firesides. The wind, for a day or two, has been 
blowing from the northeast, and this morning the 
tide is quite high. What effect the change in the 
weather may have upon the plague, remains to be 
seen. Up to one o'clock to-day, the fever continues 
its fearful havoc, and deaths are occurring every 
hour. I have to report, since my last, the death 
of other prominent and useful citizens." 



HOBBB1 OF rin: pj -iii.i.m i:. I 13 

Sept. 25. — At last the mighty angel of de- 
itruction seems to be less rapid and terrible in the 
appalling work of death. The change in the weather 

do doubt, had a favorable tendency with regard 
to the fever. The number buried to-day was only 
ibout fifteen. On Saturday there were about forty 
interred, and on Sunday, twenty-five or thirty." 

Sept. 26. — With feelings of the highest gratifi- 
cation, I have to inform you of the material abate- 
ment of the yellow fever in Norfolk. 

" The cool, dry weather seems to have stayed 
the onward march of the destroyer of life and 
happiness, and we may confidently hope now that 
health and prosperity will soon return. I hear 
of but few new cases, and the number of burials 
yesterday did not exceed a dozen in all the ceme- 
teries." 

" Oct. 3. — During the damp, cloudy, and rainy 
weather, which has prevailed for several days 
past, many persons were severely attacked, and 
deaths have regularly occurred every night and 
day, although the number, on account of a lack of 
subjects, has been comparatively small. 

" I heard an eminent physician say to-day, that 
our scattered population should not return until 
the weather is cold enough at night to cause the 



144 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 



formation of ice. A few have already returned, 
and several have quickly sickened and died since 
they came." 

"Oct. 7. — There were only three or four burials 
yesterday ; none, as before stated, on Sunday ; 
and, as I have heard of no new cases, and learn 
that those who are ill, are, for the most part, 
recovering, I hope to be able to inform you in my 
next, that deaths here by the yellow fever have 
entirely ceased to occur. The anxiety to return, 
however, has induced some, who were absent, to 
hazard their lives, and run the risk of coming in 
contact with a disease that proves fatal in a ma- 
jority of cases; and on this account, I have no 
doubt • that here, as in Portsmouth, more will 
die of this disease, before the weather is sufficiently 
cold to put a stop entirely to its attacks upon the 
lives of the people. 

" The career of this pestilence in our city has 
been as mysterious, eccentric, and singular, as it 
has been fearfully rapid and fatal. While many 
families have been deprived of several of their most 
loved and valued members, and others have been 
entirely swept into the grave, every member in a 
few — all or nearly all have survived an attack of 
the disease, and are now almost recovered. In a 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 145 

■ family on Bute Street, all died. In one on 
Church Street, ten in eleven ; while in another on 
same street, consisting of twenty-one persons, 
though all were down with the fever except one, 
only one died. The individual who escaped in this 
family, attributes his exemption to an attack in 
1 821. But some who were ill of the fever in '21, 
have been dangerously ill here during its present 
visit to our city. 

" In some families, the strongest have been 
taken, and the most frail left to deplore their sad 
loss. In others the weak only have fallen, and the 
robust and active spared. Only children have died 
in many families, and in some they have escaped, 
while both parents have died and left them deso- 
late orphans, to be cared for by sympathizing 
strangers, who came on the mission of love and 
mercy to the scenes of woe, that were going on 
here, when Death held his sway, and transformed 
our beautiful city almost into a mammoth charnel 

house." 

7 



CHAPTER XIX. 



CORRESPONDENCE DECREASE IN THE NUMBER OF PATIENTS THE 

CONVALESCENTS THE "STEAMER — AN AGED VICTIM DEATH 

HOLDING HIS SWAY THE REFUGEES THE DESTROYING ANGEL 

THE CALAMITY — DEATH OF A MINISTER — THE PATIENTS RECOVER- 
ING — STORES OPENING THE VACUUM THE SEVERITY OF THE 

DISEASE THE GRAVE-YARDS DEATH OF A PRINTER A WEEK 

OF SUSPENSE THE PHYSICIANS THE DISEASE DISAPPEARING 

REFLECTIONS THE SCOURGE. 

Extracts from the special correspondence of 
the Baltimore Sun : 

" Sept. 17th. — There is a manifest decrease in 
the number of deaths, but many valuable citizens 
are still dying of the fatal and alarming epidemic 
that has spread desolation, consternation, and terror 
throughout our city and our neighboring town 
across the water. There are many pale and sallow 
faces, and emaciated forms in our streets, of those 
who have nearly recovered. They show the sad 
effects of the ravages of the scourge ; but there are 
often happy, joyful greetings between many who 
meet after the terrible ordeal has been passed, and 
the sufferers have escaped death and the grave. 
There are thankful as well as sad hearts ; for, some 



HISTOBT ov nir. PESTILEN( r.. 147 

haw been restored nearly to health, that did not 
expect to withstand the fierce attack of the death- 
iealing agent of destruction that has stalked abroad 
through every street of our city, in the bright face 
of day, and in all the dark and gloomy hours of 
the night. 

»f the small number of whites that are still 
here, a lew have thus far escaped an attack of the 
disease ; but there is scarcely a family that has not 
•offered, and, as before stated, in some instances 
all are gone, every member has been taken to the 
grave, and within a few short days, heads of 
families, children, and all, have been laid, side by 
side, in the burial-place. 

" We have had very heavy rains recently ; and to- 
day (Monday) the air is cool and pleasant, wind 
northwest. Some excellent citizens died yesterday 
and to-day, and since my last letter was written. 

" Mrs. , a lady of some property, died to-day, 

and, all of her relatives having died, numbering 
some half a dozen, others had to attend to her 
burial. She stood like a forlorn stranger amid the 
death and desolation around her — the last of the 
family — trembling with the weight of seventy-two 
I ; but soon she will sleep quietly with her 
children, and grandchildren, who went just before. 



148 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

There were tears shed at her grave, but by the 
faithful servants who had watched at her bedside, 
while the disease preyed upon her frail and aged 
form. The family are all buried, and as in other 
cases, it may be difficult to find the legal heirs to 
the property that has been left." 

" Sept. 22. — Death is still fearfully at work 
here, and there is a considerable increase in the 
number of cases. Those who have been attacked 
this week have nearly all died ; scarcely one in ten 
survives. The fatality is absolutely awful to con- 
template, and our remaining population are still in 
great distress, and oppressed with feelings of the 
deepest grief and sorrow." 

" Sept. 26. — The weather here is now delight- 
ful ; the wind has changed to the South, and it is 
feared we may have it warm and sultry again, and 
a consequent increase in the fever cases. But it is 
most earnestly to be desired that there will con- 
tinue to be a rapid diminution of the new cases, 
and of the victims of the pestilence ; that we soon 
shall be free from the wasting and devastating 
scourge, and be healthful and prosjDerous again. 

" The thousands of our citizens who are scattered 
about in various parts of this and other States, are 
very anxious to return to their homes. This, how- 



HISTORY OF i ill- IM BTTLENl 1 I!) 

fvor, it will be hazardous to do until the appear- 
ance of frost, which, we trust, may not be delayed 
more than a week or two longer; although We 
may nor have it in three or lour. A strange as 
well as a sad state of things they will find when 
they return to this plague-stricken city, and long 
years will be required to restore it to its wonted 
prosperity and happiness. Wives who are absent 
have lost their husbands, who remained at home; 
mothers, their children ; sisters, their brothers; and 
hundreds of relatives and friends, who separated 
a few weeks ago, will meet no more in this world. 
The friends and acquaintances of some families 
will look in vain for a single member of the house- 
hold. 

"The destroying angel, in the execution of his 
awful commission, and in the exercise of his stu- 
pendous power, has gone in among many a happy 
family circle, and in a few brief days made it de- 
solate by the removal of the fairest and the best, 
striking down, and removing one, two, three, and, 
in some cases, all of the inmates of the once joyous 
and peaceful home. 

"It is painful, indeed, too, to reflect upon the 
many men of mind, genius, enterprise, and character 
that have been swept away. How great a vacuum 



150 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

has this calamitous visitation caused in a few 
weeks? Certainly a large number of our most 
valuable citizens are gone from our midst. We 
should bow submissively to the decree of the 
Great Ruler and Creator, but sadly and awfully, 
indeed, is our city afflicted. 

" I regret to add to the list of recent deaths the 
name of Benjamin Charles, the printer in the Ar- 
gus office, who stood firmly and fearlessly at his 
post by the side of Mr. Finch, the lamented and 
intelligent foreman, and toiled with him night and 
day, when the fierce destroyer had attacked the 
rest, or caused them to fly. The writer noticed 
this young man at his work, striving faithfully to 
give the desired information of the progress of the 
disease to our scattered people. He seemed as 
calm, amid the storm of excitement that prevailed, 
as he ever was. He deserves to be kindly remem- 
bered, as one who was faithful and fearless when 
thousands were hurrying away in alarm. 

"In looking back, as it were, upon the wide- 
spread desolation which the fell destroyer has left 
in its track, the heart is pained at the sad vacuum 
which has been made in many an excellent family." 

" Sept. 29. — Another week of painful excitement 
and activity has come to a close, and with it seems 



HIM'OKV OF THE PESTILENCE. 151 

to have nearly ended the cruel and merciless career 
of the destroying agent that has held its sway in 
blk for so many long and tedious weeks. 

11 There have been but very few new cases to- 
day. The disease may now be said to have almost 
entirely ceased its furious attacks. But some are 
still contending painfully and severely with the 
enemy. 

" Physicians have fallen rapidly and numerously. 
Ministers, merchants, editors, mechanics, bank offi- 
cers, clerks, and so on, have gone one after another 
to the silence of the grave. Old men and tender 
infants, men of cultivated minds and unlettered 
laborers, masters and servants, prisoners and their 
keepers, friends and enemies, the strong, the weak, 
the halt, and the maimed, have died off with amaz- 
ing rapidity. Before the familiar sound of their 
voices had been forgotten, or it was known by 
many that they were ill, they were sleeping in their 
* narrow beds/ 

" We may hope now, however, that the fearful 
commission of the angel of death has well nigh 
been executed in this ill-fated and unfortunate At- 
lantic city ; that the wails of the bereaved, and the 
heart-rending cries of the orphan, may soon be un- 
heard, and our wonted healthfulness and happiness 









152 HISTOEY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

return, and take the place of this silence and deso- 
lation." 

" Oct. 6. — The great conflict with the monster 
malady is almost over, and those who retreated 
may soon return, as they are anxious to do, to the 
battle-field ; but the dead are removed, and buried, 
and the wounded are recovering. The proud and 
powerful monarch, Death, that has held sway here 
so long, has nearly finished his fearful work upon 
friends and foes, good and bad, great and small, 
treading down all alike, regardless of station 'or 
influence. The dim lights that burned in five 
hundred infected chambers no longer give forth, 
through the half-closed windows, their sickly, mel- 
ancholy glare upon the few that ventured out upon 
the deserted streets by night. 

" The people now seem relieved ; their counte- 
nances give evidence that a great burden has been 
measurably removed — that the good angel of hope 
has taken the place of the dread angel of death, 
and gives joy to hearts that have known only sad- 
ness and sorrow for dreary months that have 
passed. 

" The flight of souls immortal, at the rate of five 
hundred per week, from the afflicted cities of Nor- 
folk and Portsmouth, has nearly ceased, and the 



IIIMoKV OF ill 1 : PE8TH r.NCE. 15JJ 

-.ores, dwellings, and public build- 
will, ere long, present scenes of life and ani- 
mation, social greetings, and active business. The 
proud and noble ocean ships that have left our deep 
waters, will come into our capacious harbor again ; 
the gay steamers that are gone will return and 
appear with their human freight, all anxious and 
active with life and hope ; and merchant vessels 
will crowd our docks and wharves, now rendered 
silent and vacant by the fearful work of death that 
has oppressed and afflicted us. But the recollec- 
tion of the scenes of suffering and woe that have 
been witnessed here, will remain for months and 
years, and deep grief will sadden and weigh down 
many a heart ; for numbers of the loved and the 
loving, the noble-minded, the beautiful that were 
here, are gone, to return no more. A long night 
of sorrow will be the portion of many a true soul. 
But Father Time will work a mighty change and 
a cure in many a bleeding heart. 

" There have been but three or four burials to- 
day. Xo prominent citizen has died since Wed- 
nesday, and I hope to be able to inform you in a few 
days that the fearful scourge has passed by, and 
gone entirely from among us — and may it never 

return hither again — never ! 

7* 



154 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

"A child died at the hospital yesterday, and 
another at the Orphan House to-day ; and five or 
six colored persons have died during the last forty- 
eight hours, and others, who are sick, are recover- 
ing rapidly." 

" I hear of but few deaths now in either Norfolk 
or Portsmouth. I regret to state that Rev. Mr. 
Devlin, the Catholic priest in the latter place, 
died yesterday. He had the fever a few weeks 
ago, and, after having nearly recovered, exposure 
to inclement weather caused a relapse that soon 
closed his earthly career. From the commence- 
ment of the fatal epidemic at Gosport, almost to 
the termination of its fearful ravages, Mr. Devlin 
was unceasing in his pastoral visitations and kind 
attentions to the sick, the suffering, the needy and 
the dying. He is the seventh minister who has 
fallen during the frightful reign of the merciless 
destroyer that has devastated the two adjacent 
towns. 

" We have had two frosts, which will, no doubt, 
soon stop the progress of the scourge entirely. 
The weather is perfectly charming — the tempera- 
ture just such as to make the healthy feel more 
vigorous, and the invalid better and stronger. 

" Most of the cases now under treatment are 



HISTORY OF rm: PESTILENT B. 155 

rapidly recovering, and many who were sick ap- 
pear on the streets, and will soon be able to attend 
to their accustomed duties again. 

" More than a dozen stores are open, during the 
greater part o( the day, on Market Square and Main 
Street; and business matters will soon get into 
their accustomed course again. The wide vacuum 
that has been made by Death will be gradually 
tilled ; the deep wounds that have been inflicted 
will be healed by time, and many long and happy 
years of prosperity are before us. Some will 
probably never recover from the effects of the fear- 
ful calamity that has crushed so many to death, 
and sunk them into the grave ; but rising suns and 
bright and healthful days, and the excitement of 
business and news, will dissipate the dark clouds of 
gloom and despair that Death has caused to gather 
over and around us, and many who are now sad 
will be happy and joyous again, in spite of the sad 
remembrances of the sting of Death and the vic- 
tory of the grave. 

" I heard one of our citizens regretting his great 
loss during this pestilential visitation. Eleven of 
his relatives, including his wife and five children, 
were taken. Another spoke in terms of the most 
inconsolable grief and despair. He had but re- 



156 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

cently removed to the city with a lovely wife and 
a young child. They are in the grave, like the 
rest, and he looks as if a weight of sorrow will 
soon press him down, and close his joyless earthly 
career, too. 

" The grave-yards present a strange sight. In 
Cedar Grove, Elmwood, the Catholic and Potter's 
Field, the graves are interspersed in every direc- 
tion over the grounds. I never expected to see so 
large a number of new-made graves — a sad sight, 
indeed, a melancholy evidence of the fearful and 
rapid work of death that has been going on. The 
pits, which contain from fifteen to more than thirty 
bodies, are upon the banks of a stream that glides 
peacefully and" quietly by, while the winds moan 
and sigh deeply among the thick branches of some 
noble trees that throw their shade upon the sleep- 
ing dead below. Their bones will mingle pro- 
miscuously, and crumble together in close union, 
till roused to life by the archangel's trumpet, with 
the countless millions who sleep the death-sleep, 
and who must hereafter submit to the common fate 
of man." 






CHAPTER XX. 

MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE LETTER FROM T. G. BROUGH- 

TON. ESQ. REMOVAL OF THE CITIZENS GENEROSITY OF 

RICHMOND LETTER FROM REV. T. HUME THE RUSH FOR, 

FOOD INCREASE OF DEATHS DRS. CAPRI, CRAYCROFT, 

UPSHUR. AND CROW THE SUPPLY OF COFFINS EXHAUSTED 

DESOLATION AND DEATH JOSIAH WILLS JOHN TUNIS NO 

ABATEMENT OF THE DISEASE — THE GRAVE-DIGGER A BEAUTI- 
FUL SABBATH MORNING THE CLERGY SUFFERING THE FAMI- 
LIAR WORK OF DEATH AND BURIAL THE RETURN OF THE 

ABSENT CORRESPONDENCE ACTING MAYOR OF NORFOLK AND 

F. H. CLACK, ESQ., OF MOBILE. 



"Norfolk, Sept. 11. — My dear sir: I have re- 
ceived your letter, earnestly pressing our few 
remaining citizens to flee to Richmond, where, 
you say, I well know they would be received with 
open arms — everything being provided to make 
them comfortable. But to me it seems impossible. 
There is no means by which the appeal you sug- 
gest could be made to reach them. Few, indeed, 
are at leisure to bring about what you propose. 
Indeed, I may say, all who could be useful in pro- 
moting that object have their minds entirely 



158 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

engrossed by their duties to their sick families, 
connections, and friends ; and I could not name 
the individual who is not thus engaged, far beyond 
his desire to do good in any other way. Those 
who are not thus circumstanced, of course, con- 
tinue to obey the instinct of self-preservation, by 
fleeing to a purer atmosphere. 

" Being, in my position of Secretary to the 
Board of Health, about the only one of our city 
authorities present and fit for duty, I take the 
liberty to tender you the thanks of the city for 
your benevolent proposition. Nobly has Rich- 
mond used the liberal means with which a kind 
Providence has endowed her, in ministering to the 
relief of her poor, afflicted, heart-broken sister ; 
and may the same Providence continue to increase 
those means, since she has so well proved that she 
knows how to use them. Heaven bless you and 
her, is the sincere prayer of your friend, 

" Thos. G. Broughton." 

" To the Editor of the Richmond Disyatcli. 

" Portsmouth, Sept. 17. — I have confided the 
receipt of the articles mentioned by you to my 
friend Holt Wilson, who will make you a due ac- 
knowledgment. I must tender to you and your 



UI.-lOKY OF Mil: PESTILENCE, L69 

kind-hearted fellow-citizens my unfeigned and fer- 
vent thanks for this renewed token of your bene- 
volenee towards us. The sufferings of our people 
greatly relieved by the gifts thus generously 
iwed upon us, while the tender interest in our 
behalf which they revive cheers us amid the gloom 
whieh gathers around us. 

M What an affecting sight is presented during 
the whole day at the office of the Relief Com- 
mittee '? There a crowd is almost constantly 
gathered, seeking supplies for their destitute fami- 
lies. The press has been so great to-day, that we 
have been compelled to close the office door, and 
recpiire them to wait without at the window. If 
we could raise the requisite force, we would open 
another office, and another store, but we are un- 
able to do so. 

" Last night and to-day, the proportion of 
deaths and new cases (compared with the three 
or four previous days) among us has been sadly 
increased. This is, I learn, the fact also in Nor- 
folk. Yours truly, 

"T. Hume." 
— Richmond Dispatch. 

From Dr. W. H. Freeman, of Philadelphia. 

"Norfolk, Sept. 21. — My last visit, less than 



160 



HISTOEY OF THE PESTILENCE. 






half an hour ago, was to Dr. Julius Caesar Capri, 
of the Sixth Avenue, New York. He now lies 
dangerously ill at the " Howard Infirmary," whi- 
ther he was carried from the hotel on the morning 
of the 10th. He has black vomit, and lies in a 
comatose condition. 

" This gentleman, and three nurses who accom- 
panied him, arrived in this city only this day one 
week ago ; now he and Mrs. Wallace, a female 
nurse, lie dangerously ill of the disease. I saw 
them on the afternoon of their arrival — was intro- 
duced to them by Mr. Cooke, of the Howard 
Association ; and most earnestly did I implore them 
to return home, stating that they would add to the 
number to nurse, and perhaps to bury. His reply 
was a noble one : ' I came here to attend the sick, 
and I would rather die than return.' He brought 
with him high recommendations from Dr. Mott, of 
New York, and is a man of very superior attain- 
ments. He has been under my charge, in the 
private wards of the hospital, where he has been 
nursed most faithfully by Vincent Torras, sent by 
you from Philadelphia. Yesterday and to-day, I 
have had the valuable assistance, in consultation, 
of Professor J. B. Head, of Savannah, Georgia. 
Both of us have seen him some half a dozen times 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 161 

I dav, and the greatest interest is manifested in 
4 poor Capri/ by all here. 

••This recalls to mind one who hails from our 
goodly city — I mean Craycroft. I knew him well 
while here, and twice had I obtained his consent 
to go home, and for which he had made prepara- 
tion ; but each time he was induced to forego the 
promise, because, being exceedingly useful and 
active, he was urged to remain by a gentleman of 
the Howard Association, who knew his value. He 
became thereby a martyr ; and while his friends 
and family may mourn his loss thus early in life, 
they are at least consoled by the reflection that he 
fell in a holy cause, and that nothing was wanting 
that could in any way contribute to his comfort, 
during his brief illness. Dr. Wm. J. Moore (one 
of only three of the resident physicians left on duty 
here) had him at his residence, and not only was 
with him constantly, but he availed himself of the 
skill and attention of Dr. Huger, of Charleston, 
S. C. 

" Dr. Upshur died the night before last, and Dr. 
Crow to-day. Over one-half of the resident phy- 
sicians now sleep beneath the sod. Is not this a 
fearful mortality, and does it not speak volumes 
for the moral courage of the remnant?" 



162 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

" Norfolk, Sept. 22. — The malignity of the 
disease has not abated, but, owing probably to the 
moist, oppressive condition of the atmosphere this 
Week, has rather increased. It is said that scarcely 
a case taken since Monday has recovered. Thirty 
orders for coffins were in waiting this morning at 
ten o'clock ; and although the supply is large, not 
enough can be obtained. One hearse passed by, 
containing three bodies sewed up in canvas. Last 
Sabbath, not a church was open in the place ; and 
for a long time all houses of business have been 
closed. Not a person is to be seen in the streets,, 
save here and there a servant, or the physicians 
hurrying to and fro. 

" Sept. 24. — Dr. Upshur, whose death was men- 
tioned yesterday, was a most excellent citizen and 
physician. Foremost in the fight, he has fallen a 
prey to the fell disease that in nowise abated his 
zeal in the contest, until exhausted nature com- 
pelled him to retire, and await that summons 
which no human skill can avert, and which all 
must, sooner or later, obey. He filled the office 
of surgeon of the Marine Hospital, at this port, had 
an extensive practice, was a pious and a good man, 
and had a heart ever open to the claims of "melting 
charity." Josiah Wills, one of our most eminent 



HBTORY OF nil". PESTILENCE. 163 

Merchants, also died this morning, after a brief 
illness. His loss will also be deeply deplored by 
all the various business men of the place, to whom 
i xrensive concerns gave much employment. 
Able and liberal, he was foremost in good works, 
and was always engaged in every scheme that 
promised to advance and improve the trade and 
commerce of the place. John Tunis, also, is no 
more. One of our wealthiest, most intelligent and 
liberal citizens, full of enterprise, and possessing a 
large share of sound practical wisdom, he leaves a 
vacuum in society which will be difficult to fill. 
Cases of all classes are occurring, without any fa- 
vorable signs of modification or abatement. 

" Portsmouth, Sept. 26. — Uncle Bob Butt, the 
noted grave-digger, was up to the city yesterday. 
The sight of that personage in town is considered 
a good omen, as he has been seldom seen since 
the epidemic commenced. He alone has had nine 
or ten men employed, night and day, burying the 
dead, outside of the city. He is a slave, and 
deserves great credit for his attention to this 
important part of the debt due the dead." 

" This is a beautiful Sabbath morning. The at- 
mosphere is clear, cool, and invigorating. Several 



164 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 






of the Norfolk churches are open for worship, but 
few of the congregation are in attendance ; others 
are closed. In some instances the faithful pastor, 
who, like the lamented Dibrell and Jackson, pre- 
ferred death to desertion, has been summoned from 
the scene of his labors, to receive his reward. In 
other cases, the surviving pastor discovers most of 
his congregation either exiles from home, or occu- 
pying the silent sepulchre. 

" Much suffering and distress have existed in Nor- 
folk and Portsmouth during this epidemic, but the 
end is not yet. The excitement and absolute ne- 
cessity for constant activity have afforded but little 
time for reflection. 

" I have seen husbands consigning their wives 
to the tomb, wives their husbands, parents their 
children, and children their parents, with an ap- 
parent callousness, that to me was truly painful. 
In fact, they appeared, in many instances, entirely 
incapable of appreciating their loss, and even now 
they do not realize it. To this, it is true, there 
have been exceptions. I have witnessed some out- 
bursts of emotion which irresistibly excited the 
sympathy of the spectators. 

" But when those who are absent return, attired 
in the habiliments of mourning — when the social 



HBTOBT OF THE PES ni.r.NCE. 1G5 

circle is formed, and the surviving members of* the 

►ctivc families surround the domestic hearth — 

then will the truth, with all its horrors, become 

apparent. Then will the eye in vain search for 

at wife or husband, lather or mother, son 

or daughter, brother or sister. The scenes of in- 

i mental suffering which will then transpire, 

no pen can depict, nor pencil portray. 

" Norfolk, 10 a. m. — I learned this morning, from 
a reliable source, that several families who have 
been residing in the adjacent country for some 
"Ireeks past, have recently returned to Norfolk. 
The result has been (as one would naturally ex- 
pect), every family has one or more of its members 
down with the fever." 

Extract from a correspondence between N. C. 
"Whitehead, Esq., Acting Mayor, and F. H. Clack, 
of Mobile, who acted as Chief of Police during the 
continuance of the fever. 

"Norfolk, Va., Sept. 27. 
" To X. C. Whitehead, Esq. 

" Acting Mayor of the City of Norfolk : 
"Sir: — By your appointment of the 4th inst., 
I was placed at the head of the police of this city, 
with full authority to direct and govern all police 



166 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

matters within the corporation limits. In enter- 
ing upon the discharge of these important duties, 
I felt all the responsibility entailed upon me by 
such a position, and I trust I have properly fulfilled 
its duties. 

" The exigency which required, in your opinion, 
such an appointment, has now passed ; and I beg 
leave to resign into your hands the authority and 
office received from you. I am induced to take 
this step by the belief that there is no longer occa- 
sion for the exercise of any such extraordinary 
authority, as the violence of the epidemic has 
abated, and affairs here are beginning to take their 
usual regular course. 

# # # # 

" I have realized, sir, from the beginning, the 
delicacy of my position, and determined, as soon 
as I could do so with prudence and safety, to resign 
my office. 

" And yet, sir, I did not feel as a stranger would, 
in acting in the capacity I have filled. In visit- 
ing those scenes where I had passed my days of 
childhood, I felt that Norfolk had a right to claim 
from all her children every aid they were able to 
give. In this spirit I have acted, and striven to do 
my best. 



HISTORY OP THE PESTILENCE. 107 

To F. II. Clack, Esq. 

# # # # 

••That you, though young in years, have more 
than fulfilled the expectations of myself, and a 
community to which you are in a great degree 
affiliated, is proved by the universal testimony of 
those who have experienced protection from your 
vigilance ; by the efficacy, peace and good order 
which have prevailed under your management ; 
and by the regret which we personally feel, that 
your resignation is prefatory to your departure from 
among us in common with other gallant associates 
who have also officially notified me of their purpose 
to leave. 



" The early day which you have fixed upon for 
departing, and the forlorn condition to which our 
remaining families are reduced, prevent the majori- 
ty of our citizens from making more than slight 
individual manifestations of the profound gratitude 
which they cannot fail always to cherish ; and from 
giving su(!h united expression to their feelings as 
would be agreeable to them, and, I trust, not un- 
acceptable to yourself. 

" Be pleased to accept, sir, for yourself and the 



168 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

bands of heroes whom you represent, the assur- 
ance of my warmest gratitude and high personal 
esteem. 

" Yours, very respectfully. 

"N. C. Whitehead, J. P., 

" Acting Mayor of Norfolk.'* 



CHAPTEB XXI. 

CHARITY — WOMAN* AT THE BEDSIDE OP THE SICK, 
DYING, AM> DEAD — THE PERIOD OF TERROR — A PROCESSION 
WITH rORTY COFFINS — THE FEMALE NURSES — CAPT. BOYD — 
THE MAYOR AND EX-MAYOR REMINISCENCE A FEARFUL RE- 
ALITY — HELP FROM ABROAD — BALTIMORE, RICHMOND, ETC. 

THE RAY LINE COMPANY — PHILADELPHIA AND NEW YORK — 
NATIONAL MUNIFICENCE — LIBERALITY OF NEW YORK — THE EPI- 
DEMIC — ALLEVIATING CIRCUMSTANCES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

GRATITUDE — LIBERALITY OF PHILADELPHIA — F. WEBSTER", JR. — 

THE ORPHANS STATEMENT OF THE HOWARD ASSOCIATION 

THE ORPHANS RICHMOND REY. D. P. WILLS THE LITTLE 

ONES BEREAYED. 

Soox after the fever was first announced, the 
Sisters of Charity, connected with St. Patrick's 
Church of this city, received a note from a phy- 
sician infor min g them that their services had been 
offered by a friend to attend the sick, if desired. 
They replied with commendable promptness, and 
in terms expressive of a self-sacrificing devotion to 
the cause of suffering humanity, and stated their 
readiness to enter at once upon the work of love 
and mercy. They added, that their force would 
probably be divided between Portsmouth and 

Norfolk, and if so, aid would immediately be pro- 
8 



170 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

cured at Emnietsburg ; so that, in case the fevei 
should unfortunately spread in our city, the public 
might not want for careful and experienced nurses 
to attend at the bedsides of the sick, the suffering, 
and the dying. 

Woman, in almost every land, and of every 
religious persuasion, has cheerfully and nobly 
engaged in the merciful and angel-like work of 
alienating human suffering — has stood firmly and 
heroically by the bedside, amid the pestilential 
breath of fever, and cholera, and plague ; nor 
retired until the patient gave unmistakable signs 
of returning health, or the hapless victim was 
held fast in the unyielding embrace of the "king 
of terrors," when, with big tears of heart-felt 
grief, she has left to repeat her efforts beside other 
couches of suffering and death. But here was an 
association of ladies, holding themselves ready, at 
the first startling cry of alarm — the first call for 
aid to the suffering, the first announcement of a 
fatal and dreaded pestilence — to go to the rooms 
of the diseased and do the kindly offices so greatly 
needed there — to whisper words of encourage- 
ment, administer the remedies, and wipe the 
death-damp from the sallow brow of the dead. 
Surely, the harsh and discordant voice of bigotry 



HISTOKY OF THE 171 

and sectarianism should be hushed now, and the 
taeed of praise freely awarded to those who justly 
merit it, without regard to party or creed. And 
there were many others, whose generous deeds 

and works of love are known, remembered, and 
acknowledged. 

We will not attempt to express now the high 
appreciation and the deep sense of gratitude of 
our citizens for so noble and whole-souled benevo- 
lence. Here, and in our sister city, we wanted 
aid — we needed nurses and helpers on every hand. 
We speak not in terms of censure, but fifteen 
thousand of the people had fled. They were 
scattered among the beautiful hills and luxuriant 
valleys of our State ; were safe in the healthful 
cities of the North, where the breezes were balmy 
and fresh, or elsewhere far aw T ay from the sick- 
ening and tainted air ; and their relatives, their 
friends, their neighbors, their faithful servants, 
their sick and dying townsmen w r anted help ; they 
wanted familiar and friendly hands to smooth out 
the pillow for the aching head, to wipe off the 
cold death-drops that collected upon the pale 
brow and the sunken cheek. But strangers came 
to their assistance ; and let this be proclaimed to 
the honor of humanity, and to the lasting fame of 



172 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 



the great souls that sacrificed the comforts of home 
and the society of loved ones in the endeared family- 
circle — let it be inscribed in indelible letters of 
gold. But it is deeply graven in the hearts of our 
people ; and whether these moral heroes and hero- 
ines fell beneath the stroke of Death, or came out 
of the ordeal unhurt and pure, their benevolence 
and kindness will be remembered, and their deeds 
of love will descend far down in the track of Time, 
and be known and acknowledged in vast Eternity. 
" However natural it may be," says the Argus, 
"to seek to relieve our memory from the burden of 
that day, in the midst of which we were, and 
especially of that dark Sabbath morning when we 
saw forty men, each bearing a coffin on his shoul- 
der, sent in saddest mercy from abroad, and seized 
as soon as sent, that the corrupting remains of 
those dearest to them might be removed from their 
sight forever; however natural it may be to 
seek forgetfulness of such scenes, still we should 
not forget the silent, and almost unobserved, and 
wholly unrewarded services of the strangers who 
came among us, to do for us, or to die with us. It 
is true that the names and deeds of some of those 
have been borne upon the trembling wires, and 
filled the gazettes of all parts of our country, and 



HISTORY OF THE PESTTLENCH, 173 

will be known for long years as angels of mercy ; 
but there were scores of patient, tender, self-de- 
voting nurses, who served without notice, and, 
thoughtless of observance, to whom our highest 
gratitude is due. 

"We are led to these remarks by our recol- 
lection of the services of the many excellent fe- 
male nurses who chose to be humane, even at the 
peril of their lives. They have left us, and their 
names are as unknown to our citizens as if they 
had never made any sacrifice. 

" There were men among them, too — men indeed 
— whose advent cheered many death-beds, and 
saved survivors from despair. Among those was 
the modest, unobtrusive, and intelligent Captain 
Boyd. At the gloomiest period of the epidemic, 
Hunter Woodis led him to the bedside of the Ex- 
Mayor of the city ; the fever had prostrated the 
whole family. His services were at first declined, 
because one of less respectable deportment, who 
could wait upon females, was most to be desired. 
But he would not be refused ; and, as a menial, 
doing the duties of the humblest servant, and most 
faithful nurse, to master and slave, for weeks, 
without disrobing himself, without necessary food, 
without rest, and without the desire of reward, 



174 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 






save what conscience brings, did this stranger 
work in his Samaritan office." 

" When we look back upon our city" — wrote 
the senior of the Herald, after passing unhurt 
through the storm of death — "as it was a little 
more than two months ago — in the enjoyment of 
more than its wonted share of health ; smiling in 
the midst of peace and plenty ; prosperous in all 
its various departments of business, commerce, and 
mechanical industry ; looking into the future with 
high hopes and bright anticipations from its works 
of internal improvement ; its inhabitants, happy in 
themselves and their families, and mutually happy 
in one another, as a community in which were 
combined the elements of reciprocal good-will, 
social harmony, and a common interest — when we 
recall to mind this painful portraiture of the con- 
dition which our city so recently presented — and 
contemplate the scenes of horror and dismay which 
so suddenly followed it, as with the rush of a 
whirlwind, appalling, bewildering, stupefying, and 
stunning all the faculties of mind and sense, and 
steeping them in a vortex of woe unutterable — we 
find it difficult to assure ourselves of the reality of 
what we have passed through in that brief space 
of time ; and we feel as if it were all a frightful 



HH IT.") 

dream — a vision of woe which si ill haunts and tor- 
ri ties ns, while we would fain persuade ourselves 

iliat ir is an unreal mockery. Oh, that it wer 
indeed ! Bui no. We wake to a dread reality of 
all the horrors of a sweeping calamity which has 
spared neither sex, nor age, nor condition; which 
has widowed and orphaned hundreds; swept 
whole families entire into the grave ; torn asunder 
the strongest ties of kindred, love and affection ; 
stricken down the strongest and most ornamental 
pillars of our social fabric, and caused a general 
disruption in the frame-work which held us to- 
gether as a business community. 

" Sad and gloomy as the picture is, Oh ! how 
infinitely more so w r ould it have been but for the 
prompt, the generous, the almost super-human 
benevolence interposed in behalf of our stricken 
communities by all portions of our beloved country, 
in every city, and in almost every county and 
village in our owd State, and in her sister States, 
from the s^a-board to the interior, by their populous 
commercial marts and smaller communities, not 
only in pouring in upon us the means for mitiga- 
ting our sufferings, but in sending us their Good 
Samaritans, their noble corps of medical volunteers 
and nurses — an immortalized host of moral chival- 



176 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 



ry, to battle with the destroyer at the bedside of 
the sick, and rescue its victims from its remorseless 
grasp. Would that it were in our power to re- 
hearse the almost countless instances of these noble 
benefactions, and to command adequate language 
to express the sense of gratitude which they have 
indelibly impressed upon the hearts and minds of 
the people of both communities. To name even 
the most prominent agents in the merciful work 
of their preservation, might seem ungracious. 

"But Baltimore and Richmond — our nearest 
neighbors — what would the condition of the 
plague- smitten cities have been without their ever 
ready aid, and their lines of steamboats bringing 
daily supplies for the wants and sufferings of these 
afflicted communities ? When the panic from the 
pestilence had scattered abroad more than the 
half of our population, and suspended all the ope- 
rations of commerce, industry, and labor — leaving 
hundreds of families, dependent thereon for their 
dail} r support, in utter destitution; when not even 
the munificent donations in money from abroad, 
added to the contributions at home, could procure 
subsistence for the needy while in health, nor the 
necessary provision for the accommodation of the 
sick who were to be a public charge ; and when 



BISTORT OF Tin: PBBTZLBNOX. 177 

all intercourse with our Bister-cities, North and 
South, and with rln 1 neighboring country, was cut 
off by a general and rigid quarantine — and famine 

was thus threatened to be added to the pestilence 

that was raging in our devoted cities; then Balti- 
more, with a heart ever throbbing responsively to 
the calls of humanity, and with that generosity in 
which she cannot be excelled, through her whole- 
souled Relief Committee, promptly sent forward 
all that was required to supply the wants of the 
famishing poor, and ameliorate the condition of the 
sick — food of every description, medical stores, 
mattresses, bedding, clothing, and even coffins — 
which, as we have before shown, were, for some 
time, among the most pressing of our wants. And 
Richmond gloriously followed the example of 
Baltimore, and entered into a friendly competition 
w r ith her in the race of benevolence, anxious for 
opportunities to render assistance. 

" And here let us, in the name of our twin sisters 
in affliction, acknowledge the incalculable obliga- 
tions they are under to ' the Baltimore Bay Line 
Company' — of which the Monumental City may 
well be proud, for it has on this occasion proved 
itself one of the brightest gems in her ' crown of 
rejoicing.' For weeks the Company continued to 



178 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 



run their boats-daily, after the travel by their route 
had so fallen off as to make it a losing business to 
do so, in order that the sick and indigent might re- 
ceive the supplies which their wants daily called 
for. Nor did they change the daily to a tri-weekly 
run, until assured by the Howard Association that 
the former was no longer necessary. This great 
accommodation was rendered still more effectual 
by the considerate courtesy of the Baltimore Board 
of Health, in sending a medical agent by each 
boat, under whose supervision the communication 
was kept up, and those of our citizens who were 
permitted to do so, could take passage for Balti- 
more free of quarantine. It was through this 
channel that the ever-active Kelief Committees- of 
Philadelphia and New York were also enabled to 
forward supplies of various articles. The boats 
were permitted to approach as near the city as 
was deemed by the agents of the Board consistent 
with safety, and were there met. by the Norfolk 
ferry-steamer Princess Anne, which received the 
welcome offerings of our kind Baltimore friends, 
and conveyed them to the Howard depot for 
distribution. But even this caution was not ob- 
served till an advanced period of the epidemic ; for 
as late as the 1st of September one of the line boats 



BBTQRY OF im. PESTILEN) 179 

(the Georgia) continued to pass through our harbor 
to the upper wharf, and land the supplies sent by 

s. The value, of the sei 
thus rendered by the Bay Line Company, under 
circumstances of so much danger, cannot be ade- 
quately estimated or appreciated. May they re- 
ceive the reward of their noble and disinterested 
benevolence in a never-failing stream of prosperity 
llowing from the well-earned approbation of an ap- 
preciative public." 

44 We know of no more gratifying theme of con- 
templation for the lover of humanity," wrote an 
observant citizen, " than the success which has 
recently attended charitable appeals of various 
kinds. 

" No sooner does distress break out anywhere — 
be it an epidemic in a southern city, or a famine in 
so distant a region as Madeira — than donations of 
ten, twenty, and fifty dollars pour into the hands 
of relief associations, and in a marvelously short 
period of time a fund is collected, which effects 
what money can avail to heal the suffering. New 
York has always been preeminent among the 
donors on such occasions. 

" The Norfolk epidemic is one of the severest 
calamities with which any portion of our country 



180 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

has been afflicted for many years ; but among the 
alleviating circumstances attending it, the heart 
softens at the spontaneous manifestations of aid 
and sympathy from every quarter of the land. It 
is under such powerful appeals that the nobleness 
of human nature spontaneously bursts forth." 

11 When the pestilence commenced its ravages 
in Portsmouth and subsequently in this city," 
wrote another gentleman, "the spirit of benevo- 
lence and heaven-born charity (before an appeal 
could go forth from the afflicted cities), in antici- 
pation of their sufferings, awakened in every bosom 
throughout the length and breadth of our country 
those sympathies and benevolent impulses which 
were calculated to relieve them — and they were 
relieved, as far as ample provision for the wants 
and necessities of the sick and the destitute could 
relieve them. Norfolk and Portsmouth will ever 
recur to this ' tempering of the wind to the shorn 
lamb' with feelings to which language fails to 
give utterance. But while they cherish one com- 
mon sentiment of gratitude to all who aided in 
alleviating the horrors of their dread visitation, it 
behooves them to render special reverence to the 
city of Philadelphia for an act that deserves an im- 
perishable record. Philadelphia was among the 



BUJTOBY OF THE i'i>nu:v , 181 

foremost in signalizing her benevolent action in 
behalf of the sufferers. The contributions of her 
citizens in money, in provisions, in medical stores, 
ami in the ready aid she rendered by sending them 
physicians and nurses, were unsurpassed. Nor 
should we overlook the deep interest which her 
generous, self-sacrificing son, Thomas Webster, 
jr., took in their sufferings, and his noble efforts to 
relieve them ; but let his memory be perpetuated 
in the grateful remembrance of the citizens of both 
towns. As soon as it was ascertained that the 
disease must become epidemic, he, with other be- 
nevolent spirits, caused a public meeting to be 
called in Philadelphia, by which a Committee was 
appointed to solicit contributions for the relief of 
the victims of the pestilence in Norfolk and Ports- 
mouth ; and a very large amount was soon col- 
lected, and from time to time remitted or disbursed 
by the Committee, for the benefit of the sufferers. 
When the pestilence ceased its work of death, 
there remained of the fund contributed for the 
relief of its victims, in the hands of the Committee, 
the sum of three thousand dollars. The Committee 
submitted to Mr. Webster to decide what should 
be done with this surplus ; and he promptly pro- 
posed that it should constitute a fund, to be called 



182 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

the ' Philadelphia Fund,' invested in Philadelphia 
city scrip, the interest accruing from which to be 
divided between the towns of Norfolk and Ports- 
mouth — the former receiving interest on $1,600, 
and the latter on $1,400, of the fund, for the bene- 
fit of the orphans of persons who died of the 
fever. The proposition was unanimously concurred 
in by the Committee, and a deed in trust, appoint- 
ing Thomas Webster, jr., trustee of the fund for 
the Norfolk orphans, was transmitted to Messrs. 
Aug. B. Cooke, President, and Solomon Cherry, 
Secretary of the Norfolk Howard Association, 
with the power of attorney from the trustee to 
them, to receive the semi-annual dividends on the 
fund thus set apart for the benefit of the orphans 
in charge of the Howard Association. The scrip 
for $1,600 (a beautifully engraved document) also 
accompanied the deed in trust. 

" The deed in trust provides, that in case of the 
redemption of the scrip by the city, the $1,600 
shall be re-invested in some other stock paying 
the lawful interest ; and the three thousand dollars, 
thus dividing its product between the two towns, 
will continue to be held in trust, under the desig- 
nation of the 'Philadelphia Fund' — the portion 
awarded to Norfolk being drawn semi-annually by 



HivroKY ov THE PESTILENCE. 

sident and Secretary of the Eloward Asso- 

on — Augustus B. Cooke, and Solomon Cherry, 

<., and their successors in ollice. 
•• This disposition of the surplus of their contri- 
ions, is honorable alike to the citizens of 
Philadelphia, to the Committee who had the 

►sal of the fund, and to Mr. Webster, their 

lable agent in the transaction; and, as gener- 
ous and disinterested friends of the orphan and of 
humanity, we render them the homage due to noble 
deeds, and invoke the protection of .an over-ruling 
Providence to shield them from the dread pesti- 
lence, and shower its choicest blessings on them 
and their beautiful city." 

"While the heart of the country is throbbing 
with sympathy for the unfortunate sufferers of our 
sister cities," wrote the able editor of the Peters- 
burg Southsidc Democrat, "the sad condition of 
their hundreds of orphans should not be overlooked. 
The shaft of death has not been hurled with half 
so distressing effect, as when, in the very ruthless- 
ness of its nature, it has sundered the sweet ties 
which bind the parent to the child. The husband 
who has lost his wife, though afflicted to his 
heart's inmost core, can stem the rude current of 
life, and breast the fierce waves of the world's 



184 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

contentions. The wife who has been bereft of her 
husband, though realizing the acutest anguish of 
soul, can find peace and enjoyment in the days to 
come, with the darling objects of affection be- j 
queathed to her by a fond and devoted father. 
But who will care for the orphan? Who will 
generously assist it up the rugged mount of life? 
No one is left to love it now. Father and mother 
are swept away by the awful storm of death, which 
is brooding darkly over the cities of the sea-board. 
Who will be a friend to the fatherless — a mother 
to the motherless ? The cold world may dole out j 
its sympathies and its comforts to this noble little 1 
army ; but no tenderness, no affection, can be like 
that of a parent — no attention, however unremit- 
ting, can compensate for the loss of a mother. 
That heart is not to be envied, which does not 
mingle its sympathies with the orphans made by 
the fell scourge at Norfolk and Portsmouth." 

A statement showing the amount of receipts 
of, and disbursements by, the Howard Associa- 
tion : 

Total amount of receipts, $179,2S8 30 

Kemitted to Portsmouth, $20,619 98 
Disbursed in Baltimore, for 

provisions, etc 26,000 00 

Paid to doctors and nurses, 3.500 00 



HISTORY OF Tin: PESTTLENCB, 185 

id in Norfolk 02,481 95 

ace on hand in bank, and 
forested for the support of 
tlu> Howard Asylum, . . 66,686 37 

sl7!).'2-3 30 

11 Early in September, the orphans were first 
collected together in Christ Church Lecture-room, 
under the sanction of the lamented Ferguson, then 
President of the Howard Association, by our fel- 
low-townsman, Capt. (at that time Lieut.) James 
L. Henderson, U. S. N. (who, we are glad to see, 
has since obtained his well-merited promotion). 
They were visited and ministered to at the instance 
of Capt. H., by the martyr Jackson, and all the 
resident clergymen, without discrimination, and 
without any intention of exclusive control; and 
by Nicholas W. Parker, Esq., and other citizens of 
different denominations. 

" We regard this asylum, which we trust to see 
properly founded sooner or later, as the best monu- 
ment of those noble charities which the people of 
our various counties and towns contributed in the 
holy cause of relieving abject suffering, and pro- 
viding remedies against its inevitable consequences. 
Those one hundred and twenty hapless children 
will, through its fostering care, ever have cause to 
feel that their lot has been cast in a day of love 



186 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

and tenderness, as well as in a region swept by 
pestilence and death. 

" About sixty children, of both sexes, were con- 
veyed from Portsmouth to Richmond. Some of 
these children were so young as to be unable to 
give any intelligible account of themselves, and 
nothing whatever is known of their parentage or 
history. They were accompanied by the Rev. D. 
P. Wills, the Methodist clergyman who suffered 
so keenly from the fever, and whose death was 
announced more than once in the public prints. 
Ample preparations were jnade in Richmond for 
the reception of the orphans, and the generous 
heart of the city was moved with compassion for 
their sad condition." 

" There are eight among the number," wrote a 
Richmond editor, ''that are mere infants, and one or 
two of them are teething and feeble. The rest are 
cheerful, and one week only has been sufficient to 
increase the red of their cheeks. The ' captain' is 
fine, and the oak grove resounds daily with the 
merry laughter of the joyful children, who reck 
not of their afflictions, and the departed ones 
whose last moments were embittered by the re- 
flection, that their little ones were to be left to the 
care of strangers and the charity of the world." 






CHAPTER XXII. 

ILENCE — STRANGE PREDICTIONS AND THEIR 
FULFILLMENT — E1APPY DEATH OF A PIOU3 YOUNG MAN — DEATH 
DISARMED OF HIS STING — A THRILLING SCENE DURING A TIIl'N- 

E AND DEVOTION DEATH PRE. 

A MATRIMONIAL ALT.' 

A few months before the j^ellow fever broke 

a minister who was not a resident of the city, 

while preaching in one of our churches, and urging 

bearers to repent, remarked, that he was im- 

>ed with the idea that Norfolk would soon be 

visited with some great calamity, and declared, that 

he would not be in the condition of many of the 

citizens for the whole world. Gentlemen present 

on the occasion noticed particularly the strange 

prediction, and when the fearful disease commenced 

its ravages upon the people, the remarks of the 

preacher were recalled to mind with singular force 

and appropriateness. 

After the fever had made its appearance on 
Wide Water Street and seemed to be subsiding, 
and while the citizens were vainly hoping that 
the mysterious and subtle agent of destruction 
would spend its force in a week or two, the resi- 



188 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 



dent minister of the church alluded to signified 
his belief, with strange and startling earnestness, 
that the disease would rage with extraordinary 
severity. He said the apparent decrease in the 
number of deaths was deceptive, and would prob- 
ably prove to be like the calm upon the ocean, 
which induces the unskilled seaman to hope that 
the storm would not rise and rage, and sweep over 
the bosom of the deep in the wild fury of its resist- 
less power. But the experienced mariner could 
see the foretokening of the cruel and defying 
reign of the howling storm-king. "I shall not be 
surprised," he continued, " if thousands of our 
citizens are carried off by the pestilence that has 
already commenced its work of death." It is a fact 
that the pictures of death that he drew seemed so 
uncalled for, and were so unexpected by some of 
his hearers, that remarks were made in regard to 
their alarming and exciting nature. Alas ! the tor- 
nado of destruction, as it were, that soon swept 
away two thousand of our people, was a sad and 
awful reality of what existed in the imagination of 
the clergyman alluded to. 

. 
Anions: the lanye number of the sick and the 
dying, a pious, intelligent, and gentle young man 






BHTOSY OF THE lTM'lUV 

was suddenly prostrated by the overwhelming 
power of the deceitful and treacherous malady. 
He was unassuming in his manner, quiet, unpre- 
tending and retiring in his deportment, and pos- 
• sessed a well-cultivated mind of a thoughtful and 
ledly poetie turn. Though not generally 
known as a poet, he wielded a ready pen, and his 
productions are chaste, beautiful, and descriptive. 
For correctness of sentiment, and appropriateness 
of expression, they are creditable alike to his mind 
and his heart, and would bear a favorable compari- 
son with the writings of some far better known in 
the literary world. The writer had known him, 
and observed him for years ; had never seen him do 
an unchristian act. But " how now," in the hour 
when the king of terrors demands admittance to 
his chamber, and he languishes on the pestilent 
bed, soiled with blood pressed from his vitals by 
the unyielding grasp of the relentless yellow fever 
monster — when the dreadful disease is rapidly 
changing to putridity, death, and corruption ? 

A friend whispered in his ear — soon to be 
dull, deaf, and cold — that nothing more could be 
done for him, and that he was dying. " What ! is 
this death ?" said the meek and quiet sufferer ; " Is 
this death ?" His countenance was lighted up with 



190 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

a joyful smile, that implied more than he could 
tell. His mild, blue eye assumed a look of sur- 
prise, mingled with love and delight ; and he con- 
tinued : " If this be all — if this be death, then it is a 
very pleasant thing to die." Thus he spoke, and 
thus he felt, just before the skeleton finger of " the 
last enemy" was placed upon his frail and youth- 
ful form. His heart suddenly ceased its feeble 
beat ; his eye grew dim ; his small and almost 
transparent hand lay motionless upon the pillow ; 
he was stirless in death's chilly embrace, and his 
pure spirit passed upward to the unspeakable re- 
gions of glory — eternal glory — saved by simple 
faith in the Crucified — and his sallow corpse was 
soon on its way, with the rest, to the sad and 
crowded " city of the dead," whither he was fol- 
lowed on the succeeding day by a fond mother 
whom he loved and revered. 

"Hardened as I thought I was," wrote a 
gentleman to his friend, "by two weeks' residence 
among the dying and the dead, I could not resist 
a thrill of horror that overwhelmed me on one 
occasion, when attending a (Tying man, who was a 
raving maniac, who threatened my life, because I 
would not let him get up ; and, to raise an alarm, 






HOT 191 

ild every now and then cry (ire, with a moat 

unearthly yell. Ami, to add to all this, jus! as he 

3 breathing his last, a tremendous thunder-cloud 

scompanied by the loudest clapofthun- 

ler 1 (nor heard. I assure you my feelings \. 
thing but pleasant at that time, during which, 
■ his poormotln r, i i .':.;..'. e ; ears of age, was wring- 
ing her hands and walking the floor in the greatest 
y. It would have required a man with a heart 
of stone to resist shedding a few tears of sympathy 
with this poor woman, whose heart seemed to be 
breaking." 

One of those attacked in the noted Kow had 
obtained his license to be married; but the fever 
rfered, put a stop to the proceedings, and the 
nuptials were not celebrated. The man was taken 
exceedingly ill, and the intended bride nursed him 
day and night, with woman's unflinching devo- 
tion, till the fearful struggle with the monster was 
over. Then, after being forced away from the 
bedside, she, too, was taken with the fever, but 
recovered from the attack. ' 






CHAPTER XXIII. 

AN AFFLICTED FAMILY A DAUGHTER'S DEVOTION SUDDEN 

DEATH AN INFANT SUFFERER A MINISTER'S SON WRECKED 

BY THE SCOURGE A FRIGHTFUL AND PITIABLE OBJECT SOME 

OF THE VICTIMS THE BIRDS AND THE PESTILENCE BILL, THE 

CAKE BOY THE FIRE BELLS THE GAS-LIGHTS AND THE LAMP- 
LIGHTER — THE CITY AT NIGHT — MUSIC IN THE PESTILENCE — 
A FAIR SUFFERER. 

" After the death of Dr. R. W. Silvester and his 
son William H. Silvester, Mrs. Silvester, weighed 
down by the accumulated afflictions with which an 
all-wise Providence had seen fit to visit her fami 
ly, was seized with the fever a few days after the 
attack of her son, R. J., and only survived him one 
day. Thus, in a fearfully brief period, were four 
members of this interesting household swept from 
time to eternity. 

" The unwavering devotion and earnest solici- 
tude," wrote a friend, " with which the four were 
watched and nursed by a young lady of fifteen 
years of age, the only surviving member of the 
family who was in town, was one of the most in- 
tensely interesting spectacles to which the epidemic 



HISTORY Of Ilir. lMNlll.r.NCE. 199 

rise. Such devotion and attention displayed a 
strength and beauty of character rarely witm 
in maturer life, and give evidence of an affection 

worthy of the warmest admiration and emulation." 

About 2 o'clock, August 14, a stranger, en riv- 
ing an oil-cloth bag in his hand, was seen stagger- 
ing in .Main Street, opposite Bank, it was supposed 
from the effects of liquor ; but on turning into the 
entry to go up a flight of stairs to a physician's 
office, he fell, and in less than fifteen minutes ex- 
pired. Upon inquiry, it appeared that he was one 
of several boarders at a house which had been 
closed, and he was left in it sick with the fever, 
without attendance or necessaries of any kind ; 
that in the last stage of the disease, when the victim 
is mocked with the deceptive consciousness of re- 
turning health, he went out in order to procure a 
permit to go to the hospital ; but had just strength 
to reach the spot mentioned when he became ex- 
hausted, and death closed the scene. 

Passing through the hospital one day, w r e saw 
an infant, about two months old. The little fel- 
low was sitting alone upon one of the mattresses 
in the infected room, where there were men and 



194 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

women in all the different stages of the dreadful 
disease. The child, too, had the fever. His soft, 
tiny hand was hot, and his fever high. It was a 
beautiful baby, and a patient, quiet little sufferer. 
The mother had been taken from him, and from the 
room, along with others, to the grave, and no one 
could tell of the father or any near relative. It 
was alone in the world, and among strangers, but 
kind strangers, from far-distant cities ; and they 
admired the child, spoke gently to the little one, 
and took pleasure in watching and nursing it faith- 
fully and fondly. The melancholy expression of 
this lovely infant's blue eye, its light, silken hair, 
the beauty of its full, round face, and its bereaved, 
its fatherless and motherless condition, excited the 
most painful interest, and tears were shed — tears 
of deep and heart-felt sympathy. 

We noticed, also, in one of the rooms, a young 
man, whose face we thought it barely possible we 
had seen before. He was certainly one of the most 
sad, emaciated, and forlorn-looking beings we ever 
looked upon. He called our name, and we recog- 
nized him. He was the son of a minister of the Gos- 
pel, of good standing and character. Having been 
attacked with the fever here, he was taken to the 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE^ 195 

hospital and attended to. We knew him well : but 
really, the fearful disease had so changed and dis- 
figured him, thai he did not seem the same indivi- 
dual. He was a complete wreck. His sunken 
and yellow cheeks and melancholy countenance 
excited the sympathy of those who saw him. But 
his eyes gave him the most singular and unnatural 
appearance — one being perfectly yellow, and the 
other as red as blood could make it. He was a 
frightful as well as a pitiable object to behold ; and 
yet we saw still worse effects of this awful scourge 
among the sick and the dying ; and fortunate and 
blessed, indeed, are they who escaped with their 
lives, while so many died and went to their long 
homes. 

When the fever broke out, and the people were 
scattering in every direction, four young men went 
down to the Bay Shore, some eight or ten miles 
from the city. Having exhausted the small amount 
of funds which they had jointly raised to supply 
their wants for a few weeks, and fearing to return 
to Norfolk, they pawned their watches and other 
valuables. But the fever continuing to rage week 
after week, they held a consultation, and three 
of them determined to return to town and hazard 



196 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

their lives with the rest amid the pestilential air 
of the plague-stricken city. The other resolved 
to try his luck in Baltimore, and they all acted 
according to the decision to which they came in 
the hour of want and distress. The three who 
came to the city were soon attacked with the 
fever, and are all in the grave ; the other, who 
sought refuge in Baltimore, had the fever, but is 
still among the living. 

It was gravely announced by some person, and 
readily believed by many, no doubt, that the swal- 
lows and other birds suddenly took their departure 
from Norfolk and Portsmouth, as soon as the pesti- 
lence made its appearance. We are not quite pre- 
pared to deny that the swallows did follow the 
example of the panic-struck citizens; but very 
certain are we that numbers of the noisy and inno- 
cent species of the sparrow kind, known as the 
wren, remained fearlessly at their posts, or rather 
upon the pendulous branches of the shade and fruit 
trees. Right merrily and busily did they go on, 
too, attending to their accustomed duties, gathering 
worms and insects for their newly-fledged young, 
and pouring forth from their tiny throats their joy- 
ous matin songs, as perfectly unconcerned about 



HISTORY OF TUP, PESTILENCE. 197 

the sad havoc the yellow fever was making around 
them, as the public in general was about the terri- 
ble slaughter among the Russians and Allies at 
Sebastopol. There was one little fellow, about 
half a mouthful for the hungry old grimalkin that 
watched and longed for a taste of him, that seemed 
to think it his special business to sing pro bono pub- 
lico. While the first red rays of the sun, returning 
from his nightly march, 'tinted with golden hues 
the eastern horizon, he would come forth from his 
•retirement as self-confident as Lola Montez, take 
his position near the window at which we sketched 
the doings of Death, and almost split his throat in 
the effort to deliver himself of his pleasing though 
monotonous morning carol. 

Some of those attacked with the disease, when 
under the influence of the fever, which often 
greatly affected the brain, became frantic and 
raved like madmen. Some were almost unman- 
ageable, and it became necessary, as before men- 
tioned, to confine them upon the bed with strong 
cords. The case of Bill, the well-known cake 
boy (colored), presented a remarkable instance of 
this kind. Soon after he was taken to the How- 
ard Hospital and put to bed, he insisted on getting 



198 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

up, and succeeded in the night, notwithstanding 
the vigilance of the nurses and other attendants, 
in finding his way out in the street, where he 
wandered wildly 'about in his madness, uttering 
loud and unintelligible words, and greatly dis- 
turbing some of the citizens. After being well 
drenched with a bucket of water from the upper 
window of a house, by some person who took him 
to be a noisy inebriate, he was found, and several 
men succeeded, with much difficulty, in getting 
him again in the appropriate ward of the Hospital, 
where he was confined with cords. He became 
so restless, however, that he was allowed to get 
from his bed upon the floor, where the writer 
noticed him in the agonies of death. 

Shortly after the fever commenced its havoc in 
the city, the deaths among the members of the 
fire companies were very frequent ; and as the 
lifeless remains passed out to the grave-yard, one 
of the large fire-bells, which has a melancholy 
sound, was tolled dolefully. Every day, during 
the lapse of nearly a week, this bell sent forth its 
sad notes, announcing the departure of some un- 
fortunate fireman, and causing a deeper shade of 
sorrow and gloom to come over the citizens. Its 



history OP THE risrn i.nce. L99 

iron tongue Beemed to cry ou1 incessantly and 
mournfully, death, death, death! The Board of 
Health very properly caused the unpleasant and 
injurious sound to be discontinued. 

During the continuance of the pestilence, the 
ts were generally Lighted up as usual. Night 
alter night, the lamp-lighter wended his solitary 
way up and down the deserted thoroughfares, 
with his ladder, quickly ascending to the lamp, 
applying his match to the snake-like gas-burners, 
dispelling the surrounding darkness — though caus- 
ing many a gloomy shadow — and then hurrying on 
apace, as if well aware that he was breathing an 
active poison. It was fortunate that the lighting 
of the streets went on, for the death-like silence 
was sufficiently oppressive without the unpleasant 
addition of midnight darkness. 

One night, we found some of the principal, and 
hitherto crowded thoroughfares, not only as silent, 
dreary, and deserted as a village church-yard — 
save the dashing to and fro of the physicians 
and nurses — but enshrouded in darkness, thick, 
gloomy, and dismal. The deep stillness was 
occasionally disturbed by the winds, which were 
"playing at their pastimes" with the loose sash 



200 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

and unfastened shutters, and an occasional dim 
light shone from the windows of the infected 
rooms where loathsome disease was rioting, and 
death was thinning out the suffering inmates. 
But soon the belated lamp-lighter came along, 
the burners sent forth their rays, and a brilliant 
light drove away the sombre darkness and gloom, 
to the great relief of those who were out on 
errands of duty to the abodes of sickness and 
distress. 

The regular lighting of the streets also tended 
greatly to the security of the vacant dwellings 
and the protection of property. There were but 
few robberies of consequence committed during 
the progress of the epidemic, and not even a sin- 
gle alarm of fire, excepting on the occasion of the 
burning of Barry's Row. 

We were surprised, and almost startled, on a 
bright pleasant morning, during the rage of the fe- 
ver, by the soft and distinct sound of a piano-forte, 
in a dwelling on one of the most fashionable ave- 
nues. Although these instruments are, of course, 
very numerous in the city, and are played upon by 
hundreds of its fair daughters, with great skill, 
correctness, and gracefulness, for weeks the fa- 



HISTORY OP THE PESTILENCE, 201 

miliar sound of one had not been heard, nor was it 
cted. The soothing strains of instrumental 

music, or musical voices, in melodious tones, were 
not heard. Alas, many a sweet voice, familiar and 
attractive in sentimental song and social converse, 
had been suddenly silenced by the stifling, crushing 
aure of Death's bony hand; and the wondrous 
human instrument lay worthless, shattered, and 
broken ; not to be retuned till the coming day of 
glory, to join in the universal and triumphant song 
of " Moses and the Lamb ;" and the soft, tender, 
and practiced fingers had been rudely spoiled by 
the fatal palsying touch of the " last enemy," and 
were motionless, and stiff, and cold, beneath a 
heavy covering of damp clay — thus to remain till 
the golden harps are ready for incorruptible hands, 
that shall cause soul-thrilling music to flow out in 
heavenly strains. 

What could have prompted any one to press 
the keys of a piano, so softly, slowly, skillfully, and 
charmingly, at a time of so much sadness, silence, 
gloom, and death ? Who wanted music then ? We 
had heard that a fair one lay sick of the fever, 
in hearing of those full, rich tones, that were so 
ingeniously and stealthily flung out upon the pes- 
tilent morning air. There she lay, uttering low 



202 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

moans, with the fevered brain, weak, powerless, 
and languishing, upon her couch, feebly contend- 
ing with the frightful monster-malady ; and we 
imagined that some dear friend of hers, with a full 
heart beating with sympathy, was performing the 
favorite air of the sufferer, fondly hoping thus to 
soothe her sorrow, calm her shattered nerves, or 
charm away her fears. But, verily, the familiar 
notes fell strangely on the ear, and broke in upon 
the silence of that solemn hour in sad keeping 
with the distinct rustle of the foliage in the breeze, 
and like the sweet, soft whisperings of Faith and 
Hope in the still room, when the last hours and 
minutes are breathing away, when disease is pre- 
paring the victim for death, or death for the grave. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

lUTHERN ARGUS — A. F. LEONARD, ESQ. — ELOQUENT SKETCH OF 
THE PESTILENCE — THE GRAVE-YARDS THE BURIED THE BE- 
REAVED — THE REMEMBERED HORRORS OF THE SCOURGE — THE 
QUIETLY-SLEEPING DEAD — CONDITION OF THE CITY — DAY AND 
NIGHT — LIFE AND ACTIVITY RETURNING AVORDS OF ENCOURAGE- 
MENT — PROSPECTS OF NORFOLK AND PORTSMOUTH. 

The publication of the Daily Southern Argus 
was resumed after a suspension of thirty-nine days. 
We present some eloquent extracts from the pen of 
the editor, A. F. Leonard, Esq., whose labors among 
the sick, the dying, and the dead, are well-known. 
" Once more upon the waters!" 

11 The storm is over, and again our good ship lays 
her course. Her sails are swelled to fullness in the 
crisp October w T ind, and, anon, her flag is given to 
the breeze. But that flag floats sadly at half-mast ; 
and the call to quarters reveals that wide havoc 
has been made in our crew. Our deck has been 
swept by the pestilential billow. All have been 
disabled, from the quarter-deck to the forecastle ; 
and one-half of our white complement will never 
more greet us with the once-familiar smile. 



204 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

"For nine and thirty days have our editorial 
labors been suspended. To us, it has been no 
interval of holiday, but of participation in the 
miseries of as dire a visitation as was ever made 
by the plague-spirit, in fulfillment of the Almighty 
behest, to a region of doom and devastation. 

" We have looked Death full in the face, in its 
most hideous form. We have seen the proud, the 
humble, the young, the aged, the lovely, the un- 
seemly, the timid, the brave, the weak, the strong, 
the foe, the friend, alike fall by the swoop of the 
destroyer. We have seen a population melt away 
like snow before the noon-tide sun. We have seen 
science at fault, and triumphant pestilence claim- 
ing relentlessly its chosen spoil. We have seen — 
but why bring to light the sire deserting the in- 
fectious bedside of the son of whom he once 
boasted ; why speak of the daughter leaving thp 
imploring mother, who gave her being, to yield up 
her forlorn spirit amid the revolting filth of the 
plague ; why awaken the memory of the unutter- 
able horrors of a calamity that cannot be realized 
in description ? There is a brighter side to this 
dark picture, to which we can, and will often recur ; 
there is a ray of mercy tempering the night of 
agony, which makes us feel that man (and angelic 



UllOKY ov rin: PB8TILERCB. 205 

woman) lias that in his nature, which, when called 
forth, assimilates to the mighty heaven from which 
he derived existence. 

M We have seen our lately flourishing mart re- 
duced to the scanty number of 4,000 surviving 
souls. In the short space of less than ninety days, 
out of an average population of about G,000, every 
man, woman, and child (almost without exception) 
has been stricken with the fell fever, and about 
2,000 have been buried — being not less than two out 
of three of the whites, and one out of three of the 
whole abiding community of Norfolk, white and 
black. One-half of our physicians who continued 
here are in the grave, and not less than thirty-six 
physicians, resident and visitant, have fallen in 
Norfolk and Portsmouth. 

" Long will the day of visitation be remembered 
in the afflicted cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth. 
They are now sisters in sorrow, as they have 
always been in interest and prosperity. The pre- 
sent generation will ever retain sad reminiscences 
of the plague among us ; and the page of history 
that will contain the record of our sufferings must 
be melancholy, for the unmitigated rage of pesti- 
lence which it will recount. 

" Is there a special chastisement in this dispen- 



206 HISTOEY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

sation ? If there be, we cannot fathom it. We 
do not regard it as a direct rebuke of abolitionism, 
know-nothingism, or fanaticism of any sort. It is 
one of those mysteries that we cannot solve, and 
which we do not think it is intended for man to 
solve. If we must wield the weapon of inscrutabi- 
lity, we should not point the inculcation towards 
any but ourselves. And it should prove to us a full 
lesson of humility and benevolence ; for God knows, 
in this poor era, we have great need of both. ' Those 
eighteen upon ichom the tower of Siloam fell — tlihik \jou 
that they were more wicked than these ? l -" 

" In yonder suburb lie near two thousand fester- 
ing corpses of those who, but a few days since, 
were moving in our midst in hope, and engaging 
intently in their various avocations. The green 
of the quick-springing grass is wanting upon 
their new-made graves, and the vacancy of desola- 
tion which they have left among us has not begun 
to be filled. 

"No; turn where we may, we find heart-break- 
ing indications of the dispensation which we 
deplore. The neighboring fireside lacks its proper 
element, and the bright lineaments that once re- 
flected happiness in its glow are no longer there — 
the round of daily duty has ceased for ever — the 



HISTORY OF 1 1 1 1 : r:>iu.rv J« >T 

household key is rusted on the stained floor where 
it has dropped — the dark mould lias collected in 
the vacant boudoir, and the soft flowers, formerly 

so carefully tended, have withered 10 the frosty 
night. The sun rises, ay, smiles through the live- 
long day upon comparatively empty streets ; and 
the silent counting-room, in many cases, can be 
entered only by authority of law. 

H The solitary foot-fall that approaches, is 
awaited as betokening the bearer of a greeting 
smile ; but. no, the band of crape and the grave 
mien tell of thoughts that hover around the pre- 
cincts of a buried household. The orphaned child 
meets you at each turn of your daily path — the 
dying wail still rings with distinctness in the 
dreams of the night, and the picture of motley 
bodies packed unwitting of color, sex or condition, is 
ever present to the mind without effort of memory 
or imagination. 

" For deliverance ' from plague, pestilence and 
famine, and from sudden death,' are prayers to be 
found in all well-ordered litanies. If we have 
never before felt the need of such petitions, we 
have spontaneously offered them under our recent 
affliction. The helpless dead, in their promiscuous 
groups, have proved monitors of awe and condem- 



208 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

nation to hearts that were callous to other teach- 
ings. And there, in their quiet graves, they will 
continue, as time rolls on, to inculcate those same 
solemn lessons, which all can appreciate, and none 
can disregard, and which should prompt the offer- 
ing up in due season of fit prayer for deliverance." 

The condition of our city might have been 
appropriately compared to a busy day, after a night 
of darkness and stillness. A long night of death 
and sorrow we had. Day after day, and night 
after night, the still work of disease and death 
went on. Weeks and months passed, and yet 
silence reigned. The sun rose, and shone, and set 
in beauty and glory, as usual, but the stores and 
work-shops remained unopened, dark, and damp. 
The moon looked down brightly and clearly, and 
revealed a city, in the pleasant quiet eve of sum- 
mer time, with vacant streets and unoccupied 
houses. Family mansions, that had been noted for 
social gatherings, gayety, and happiness, were as 
silent and cheerless as a deserted and haunted 
castle in the depths of a wilderness. 

In the first week in November, there was a 
vast difference. Indeed, how striking the con- 
trast ! To one who had lived through the long 
and dreary night of stillness and death, it seemed 



lUsroUY OF THE it> iii.in. B. 209 

Kike a resurrection of the dead. Hundreds .and 
thousands of familiar tares appeared in the streets. 

The people were again hurrying in crowds, as 
formerly, up and down Main, Church, Bank, and 
other streets. They swarmed in the market-places, 
and at the ferry landings. The returned refugees 
were rather careful about going out at night; but 
there were many to be seen after the shades of 
evening fell around. And then, the ding-dong of 
the steamboat bells, the lumbering of the express 
wagons, the rattle of the heavy dray wheels, the 
loud and careless laugh of the laborer, the voices 
of buyers and salesmen, the musical jingle of gold 
and silver, the ring of the hammer on the smooth- 
faced anvil, the puff and hiss of steam — in short, 
the noises usual in a city, sounded strangely here, 
and formed a striking contrast to the stillness that 
pervaded the city during the long night of death 
that bad just passed by. 

"We rejoice sincerely," said an able w T riter, 
" that the bitter cup has at last passed from the 
lips of those afflicted cities, and we trust that, 
with returning health, there may be a restored 
energy amongst the people. We have testified an 
interest and sympathy during the prevalence of 
the pestilence ; we will now add some words of 



210 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

encouragement. The recurrence of the yellow 
fever as a periodical disease, is not at all appre- 
hended, and we may suppose the cities of Norfolk 
and Portsmouth — which are in fact one — again 
offering their attractions to the enterprise and ca- 
pital of the Union. Those who will look at the 
importance of their port in a commercial point of 
view, as the terminus of a great system of works 
which is fast turning the trade of the middle of the 
Mississippi valley to the Atlantic sea-board, will 
see that their progress and prosperity are inevi- 
table. Whilst Virginia, therefore, mourns because 
of the afflictions of the land, let her take courage 
in the prosperous career which opens upon this 
future mart of commerce. Already, the enterprise 
of the Union must have marked the vacancies 
caused by the lamented loss of merchants, profes- 
sional men, and practical mechanics ; and just as 
New Orleans is annually filled with thousands who 
wish to fill the vacuum occasioned by the ravages 
of the annual epidemic, so will population and 
capital seek Norfolk and Portsmouth, because, 
whilst the attraction and inducement to immigra- 
tion are very great, the danger of a regular visitation 
of the pestilence is not to be apprehended." 

"We say unhesitatingly," says an observant 



iiisrouY OP THE PB8TILBN4 B. 2] 1 

• that if Norfolk were razed to its founda- 

s, and all her people laid low in the dust, there 

, outside influence at work along Southside 

rinia. that would still build up a marl here of 

which the entire southern country might be proud. 

us not discourse ruin, when we can grasp 

fortune if wo will ; but let every man, as far as in 

him lies, push on the advance in his particular 

path of duty, and we may live to rival the palmiest 

days of proud emporiums." 

Portsmouth, as well as Norfolk, is admirably 
located for trade. The water-front is spacious, 
bold, and deep, and but little outlay, comparatively, 
would be necessary to improve the wharf property 
to the greatest advantage to the owners thereof. 
The town is admirably planned, the streets wide, 
level, and at right angles. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

MAYOR WOODIS — WILLIAM B. FERGUSON. 

MAYOR OF NORFOLK. 

The earthly career of His Honor, Mayor Woodis, 
closed on Sunday morning, August £5th, at half- 
past eleven o'clock, and a deeper gloom than ever 
settled over the remaining portion of our popula- 
tion. A darker shade was added to the great som- 
bre pall of sorrow that seemed to enshroud our 
city, as it were, in its darkening folds. Elswhere, as 
well as at home, many a heart was made sad, and 
many a cheek felt a tear at this melancholy intelli- 
gence. Our city lost a friend indeed. He would 
not spare himself; repose, rest, comfort, health, 
and even life itself, he sacrificed to the good of his 
suffering fellow-citizens. Night and day, he was out 
in almost every part of the city, striving, with the 
most determined and unyielding perseverance, to 
alleviate the sorrow and woe of the people ; to have 
the sick attended to, or removed to the hospital, 
and the wants of the poor supplied. He sought 



IHSTOKV OF Tin: PESTILENCE. 218 

out the sick, the dying, and the dead. Be visited 
the most infected districts, entered the most filthy 
hovels; stood at the bedside of the diseased; went 
into the desolate habitations of poverty and dis- 
: relieved the disconsolate inmates, and did 
all that man could do to lessen the force and 
er of the desolating scourge that was sweeping 
off the citizens. But he, too, fell a victim, and 
the shaft of Death ne'er struck a nobler mark. 
Deep were the pangs of sorrow that thrilled the 
hearts of our people. 

Hunter Woodis was a gentleman of fine talent 
and education, a faithful friend, an agreeable com- 
panion, an attractive and impassioned speaker, and 
an able lawyer. In the midst of a career of use- 
fulness, and in the prime of life, he was suddenly 
cut down. Our people will revere his memory, 
and mourn for him as one loved and honored — as 
an officer tried and found faithful ; and the best 
monument to his worth will be the enduring sen- 
timents of love and deep respect enshrined in the 
hearts of his friends and fellow-citizens. 

"One of the shafts," wrote Mr. Lee, of the Daily 
News, " which the King of Terrors has been sending 
thick and fast among the good, the gifted, and the 
beautiful of our ill-fated city, has at length pierced 



214 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

the heart of one whose loss is a public as well as a 
private calamity; and will be deeply felt, deeply 
mourned by every heart capable of a throb of sym- 
pathy for philanthropy and heroism. Our noble 
and beneficent Mayor is dead — Hunter Woodis, 
around whose memory will cluster the admiration 
and regret of his fellow-citizens, and whose endur- 
ing monument — loftier and firmer than sculptured 
column or painted dome — will be the tribute of 
esteem and reverence which living witnesses de- 
light to pay to deceased worth and virtue. 

" From the commencement of the dread disease, 
which is fast filling the grave-yards with tenants, 
up to this last and splendid trophy of its triumphant 
ravages, Hunter Woodis was indefatigable in his 
exertions to afford succor and hope to the poor, the 
sick and the dying. Not content with performing 
the mere duties of his office, he was every where 
where the least chance existed of doing good, and 
ever prompt at the faintest call for relief. Once 
before, overcome with fatigue and anxiety, he was 
forced to cease awhile from his labors of love, and 
the whole community then stood aghast, fearful he 
had been stricken. But hardly two days elapsed, 
before he assumed the arduous and self-sacrificing 
duties in the discharge of which he has fallen a 



B15T0BY OF ill i: lT.MU.r.V 1. 21fl 

victim, alas*! but a victim crowned with flowers 

perennial bloom and fragrance." 

He was confessedly hold, energetic, intelligent, 
and affable. During his service as Mayor, the con- 
dition of the city, in all its departments, would 
favorably compare with that" of any preceding ad- 
ministration. The Police Department was con- 
trolled with vigor and vigilance; the sanitary 
regulations of the town effectively enforced; a 
wholesome supervision was exercised over all the 
various branches of our municipal matters ; and, 
in addition tliereto, the business of the Hustings 
Court, in which so many of our citizens are imme- 
diately interested, was presided over with a degree 
of intelligence, decision and dignity, that elicited 
the applause of all concerned in the transactions 
of that tribunal. 

WILLIAM B. FERGUSON, PRESIDENT OF THE 
HOWARD ASSOCIATION. 

Soon did he follow his daily companion in bene- 
volence, the self-denying TVoodis, to the tomb ; 
and not only do our people weep for him, but his 
native city, Baltimore, divides with us the -privilege 
of grief, and will honor his name with a commemo- 
rative monument. 



216 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

The Patriot said : " The announcement of the 
death of Mr. Ferguson, the President of the How- 
ard Association at Norfolk, fell upon our citizens 
yesterday with all the weight of a public calamity, 
and excited a keenness of regret which spoke at- 
once of the high merit of the individual, and the 
heavy loss which the suffering city of Norfolk has 
sustained in his decease. A true estimation of those 
who act worthily, places Mr. Ferguson among the 
heroes of the highest stamp. From the breaking out 
of the pestilence at Norfolk he was assiduous, un- 
tiring, and unceasing in his endeavors to mitigate 
the evils of disease and death by which he was 
surrounded. He seemed to have fallen naturally 
into the position of President of the Howard As- 
sociation, from the general recognition of that in- 
domitable courage and unvarying perseverance of 
purpose, which fitted him to assume responsibilities 
and undergo labors that would have appalled and 
discouraged others. . 

" In that position, he was the animating spirit 
of the noble efforts of those who battled the pes- 
tilence with an ardor and courage that almost 
seemed to bid it defiance, and challenge its ap- 
proach. Exposed hourly to the contagion in its 
worst forms, living amidst the miasma which sur- 



BBBTOBT OF THE PESTD i:\CE. 217 

rounded the sick and the dying, Mi, Ferguson 
labored on from day to day, until hope grew strong 
that he would escape the contagion, and live to 

enjoy the rich return which the estimation of his 
fellow-citizens would award to such self-devotion. 
This expectation was sadly disappointed, and to 
the names of those who so nobly proved their de- 
votion by the sacrifice of their lives in the cause of 
humanity, we have to add that of William B. 
Ferguson." 

Says the American : 

- Mr. Ferguson was a native of Baltimore, and, 
until about four years since, resided in our midst. 
In the year 1851, he served in our City Councils, 
for a considerable period, an efficient member 
of the First Baltimore Fire Company, and, in all 
the relations of life, won the affectionate regard of 
those who were best qualified to judge of his 
merits. After his removal to Norfolk, he was ap- 
pointed Agent of the Baltimore and NorfolK 
Steamboat Company, and in the performance of 
the duties which were thus devolved upon him, 
his estimable qualities were not less appreciated 
by his new friends than they continued to be by 
earlier associates. He was taken from us at 

the early age of thirty-one years ; but, though the 
10 



218 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

term of his existence was brief, indeed, when com- 
pared with the usual period allotted to man upon 
earth, it was so crowded, within the past few' 
months, with acts of beneficence and charity, with 
heroic self-sacrifices and unwearied devotion to 
others, that the measure of his life should be cal- 
culated rather from the good deeds he has done, 
than from the calendar of his years." 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

RESIDENT CLERGY — REV. WILLIAM M. JACKSON — REV. ANTHONY 
DIBRELL. 

Of the four ministers of the Gospel, who re- 
mained in Portsmouth during the pestilence, three 
died — Christian heroes — in the performance of 
their Master's duty — the Rev. F. Devlin, Catho- 
lic ; Rev. Mr. Chisholm, Episcopalian ; and Rev. 
V..Eskridge, Methodist, and Chaplain in the U. S. 
Navy. Mr. Handy, of the Presbyterian Church, 
remained until he was stricken down by the fever, 
and attempted to resume duty after a protracted 
illness, but was urged by his medical attendant 
to leave. 

In Norfolk, Rev. Wm. M. Jackson, Protestant 
Episcopal ; Rev. Anthony Dibrell and Wm. Jones, 
Methodist Episcopal ; and Rev. Wm. C. Bagnal, 
Baptist, all died of the fever. Rev. D. P. Wills, 
Methodist Episcopal ; Rev. Mr. O'Keefe, Catholic ; 
Rev. Dr. Armstrong, Presbyterian; and Rev. Louis 



220 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 






Walke, Protestant Episcopal, were dangerously ill 
of the fever and recovered. They were busily and 
usefully engaged in their efforts to give consolation 
to the sufferers. Some of them were in regular 
attendance at the hospital ; and none of those 
mentioned manifested a desire to fly from the 
scourge — preferring to die in the faithful discharge 
of their known duty, rather than to leave the 
suffering and • afflicted members of their flocks 
in the midst of disease and death, without those 
words of comfort and consolation which it be- 
comes the Christian minister, especially, to im- 
part in the hour of extraordinary calamity and 
trial. 

" Among many others, the estimable, the tal- 
ented, the noble, the heroic of our city, in the 
all -wise and inscrutable providence of Almighty 
God, the Rev. William M. Jackson, Rector of St. 
Paul's Church, was numbered a victim of the 
dread fever. 'Mid the blossom of his holy labors, 
he died, conquering a deathless name upon the 
field of pestilence ; and over his tomb the tears 
of the church and of the community have been 
shed. It is the dear privilege of the writer to 
offer a feeble tribute to his memory ; to the 
memory of him, the beloved pastor, who, as a 



Bisn 221 

minister of the Gospel of Christ — a title which do 
v ennobles, no treasure enriches — stood forth 
bv anything of this world's decora- 
ing all temporal, all eternal hope, on his 
• 1 labors, his talents, his attainments, and his 
piety — the highest honor, as well as the most im- 
perishable treasures of the man of God. Rich the 
Inheritance of Ids spotless reputation ! Pious the 
example it tost iiics ; pure, precious, and imper- 
ishable the hope which it inspires. 

" By the death of this distinguished servant of 
-:, the Diocese of Virginia — the Church in 
Norfolk city especially — sustained a sad, severe, 
and, to human view, an irreparable loss ; and 
although, over his very sepulchre, where corrup- 
tion sits enthroned upon the merit it has mur- 
I, a voice is heard vindicating the ways of 
idence, and proving that even in its worst 
adversity there is a might and immortality in 
virtue, yet it is a privilege to mourn over our sad 
bereavement ; and to record on the innermost 
shrine of our hearts, the memory and worth of 
the departi d." 

•1 ! thy conflict's o'er, thy I voice 

obt 
Aud now, the conqueror's crown for thee, 'mid augel bands 
digpla 



222 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

The victor's palm within thy hand, the wreath upon thy 

brow — 
The suffering one of earth, we feel, is Heaven's blest one now !"' 

Mr. Jackson was the pastor of honored " Old 
St. Paul's ;" but, when the demon of pestilence 
had stalked into our city, he did not confine his 
active labors to those specially under his charge. 
When the sustaining hand of the holy father in 
God was wanted, he did not ask " to whose 
church" the lorn sufferer might belong. It was 
enough for him that he was needed, whether by 
saint or sinner. 

What adds melancholy interest to his fate, is 
the poignant fact, that, like the Rev. Mr. Devlin, 
of Portsmouth, he survived till the ravages of the 
epidemic had nearly ceased, and his friends, both 
at home and abroad, had begun to encourage the 
hope that, as the day was breaking, and he yet 
spared, God intended him to survive the night, 
and speak his solemn messages in the ears of men. 
But the day dawned, and the faithful pastor was 
no more. 

" The Rev. Anthony Dibrell commenced his 
ministry in 1830. He was then of mature years, 
had spent some time at the University of North 
Carolina, and had studied the law, to which it had 



UlsTOKY OF IBB iT.sTH.r.Nu:. 229 

li is purpose to devote his life. Under the 
ministry of the Rev. Dr. William A. Smith, then 

stationed in Lynchburg, he embraced religion, 
and, soon afterwards, offered himself as a candidate 
to the Conference. He entered upon his work 
with flaming zeal, resembling a blazing torch, 
ready to be cast into dry stubble. 

" lie stood deservedly high in the estimation of 
the Conference, and by their suffrage was succes- 
sively a member of the Louisville Convention, and 
of the General Conferences at Petersburg, St. Louis, 
and Columbus, Georgia. His last appointment was 
to the Granby Street station, in Norfolk, which he 
received under peculiar circumstances, and where 
he terminated his useful life. He labored there 
with his usual fidelity, until the approach of the 
yellow fever. While others debated the question 
of flight, he solemnly resolved, in the strength of 
God, to stand by his charge, let the issue be what 
it might. He remarked in an official meeting, that 
this was his purpose, and that he felt prepared for 
the trying ordeal. He did remain, and consecrated 
his time to the offices of his holy vocation, visiting 
the sick and burying the dead. 

" His preaching, while it evinced a masculine 
grasp of thought, had two peculiarities : first, its 



224 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

propositional, rather than its discursive character ; 
secondly, its perpetual tinge of terror. More than 
any preacher we ever knew, he dealt to his hearers 
the dreadful thunderbolts of Sinai, and it seemed 
to be the principal part of his commission to do 
it." 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

VMES CHISHOLM — REV. FRANCIS DEVLIN — REV. WILLIAM C. 
vLL — REV. VERNON ESKRIDGE — REV. WILLIAM JONES. 

" Who, that knew the Rev. James Chisholm by- 
sight, would have dreamed that that frail body of 
his held such a lofty spirit ! Weak and delicate, 
with a degree of modesty that almost amounted to 
bashfulness, as shrinking and retiring as a young 
girl, thousands would have passed him in the crowd 
unconscious that they were in the presence of a 
ripe scholar and an able divine. His look a per- 
sonification of meekness ; and, to the superficial 
thinker, he would seem to have been one of those 
who would quietly have retreated to his solitude, 
far away from the noise and bustle of an excited 
community. But the disease came — Chisholm's 
flock nearly all left — and he, too, was preparing to 
spend a portion of his summer in the mountains — 
but stern duty said ' Stop.' And then it was that 
this pale, delicate, frail, retiring man came forth to 
the struggle, and the great and noble soul, which 

was, after all, the stature of the man, rose in its 
10* 



226 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

God-given strength, and he was here at the bed- 
side of suffering, and there by the fresh-made 
grave ; here pointing the sinner to the cross of 
Christ, and there carrying food and drink to the 
needy ; now in the pulpit, seizing upon the cir- 
cumstances of the visitation, to warn men to pre- 
pare for death, and then in the hospital whispering 
peace to tlie penitent and departing soul. Death 
came to him, and he met him as one who, 

' Sustained and soothed 

By an unfaltering trust, approached the grave ; 
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.' " 

On the 15th September he wrote as follows, to 
the Christian Witness: 

" It probably occurs to you, that in the present 
appalling condition of our plague-smitten com- 
munity, but one alternative presents itself to the 
consideration of every one. Shall I regard per- 
sonal safety alone, and flee with all speed from this 
atmosphere of poison and death, or shall I look 
the question of my relations to society, to humani- 
ty and to God, full in the face, and decide accord- 
ingly? The question of duty, as a minister of 
Christ, has determined me to stand at the post to 
which, I believe, all along the providence of God 






HISTORY OF Tin: ri.-riLENCE. 227 

called me. Up to this moment, for the period of 
seven weeks that the desolating scourge has been 
doing its remorseless work amongst us, I have been 
perfectly well ; not one uneasy or uncomfortable 
feeling — and never in my life have I had a finer ap- 
petite. For five weeks of this time I have been a 
daily and sometimes a nightly attendant, as occa- 
sion may call me, at the sick and dying beds of the 
sufferers and victims by this malignant fever. My 
present condition surprises myself; and I trust 
that I more than ever realize the ' Eternal God is 
my refuge, and underneath are the Everlasting 
Arms.' I am in his hands to do with me what 
seemeth Him good. 

" The wards of the United States Hospital, 
temporarily granted for the use of our Portsmouth 
people, are crowded to the number of one hundred 
and fifty or two hundred with yellow fever patients, 
and I pay these wards a daily visit, endeavoring to 
administer, as far as desired or needed, the blessed 
resources of our holy religion. It is some com- 
fort, amid these dreary w T alks of duty, to reflect that 
I have aided some poor creatures to seek and find 
that peace which the world can neither give nor 
take away. 

" I also visit wherever in town I am called for. 



228 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

As to the details of woe presented by our present 
condition, I do believe that it is utterly incom- 
petent to any descriptive power to convey a 
picture of them. Never since the continent of 
America was settled (I speak calmly, and with 
reference to what I have read or heard of), never 
has so terrible a calamity overwhelmed the same 
amount of population. You will find it extremely 
difficult to lend credence to some statements which 
I could make to you from knowledge and observa- 
tion. 

" Yesterday a communication was received from 
that city of human beings with human sensibilities 
and sympathies in their souls, Baltimore, offering 
to convey the entire remaining and surviving popu- 
lation of Norfolk and Portsmouth to any salubri- 
ous point that might be selected, or could be ob- 
tained by them, and likewise guaranteeing to 
them, so long as they might be thus detained, all 
things in the way of provisions, furniture, bed- 
ding, etc., which they should stand in need of. 
The very fact suggests to you some idea of the 
horrors of our position." 

Rev. Francis Devlin, pastor of St. Paul's (Catho- 
lic) Church, also fell a victim to the fever. The 
Transcript in recording his death, said : — • 



B08T0B1 OF i HE I i - in i !N< 

"He had partially recovered from an attack of 
the fever some weeks ago, bu1 Buffered a relapse 
from which he never entirely recovered. We saw 

him out and spoke to him on Friday afternoon, 
and though he Looked very much reduced, we had 

cherished the fond hope that he would be spared. 
From the commencement of the sad times from 
which we are emerging, up to the period of his 
attack, he had been actively and faithfully en- 
gaged in ministering to the sick and dying; since 
which time he has been mostly confined to his 
bed. He was an exemplary, mild, humble, and 
godly man, and has, no doubt, gone to reap the re- 
ward of his firm adherence to duty under the most 
appalling circumstances. His course formed an 
example worthy of all imitation, and it affords us 
sincere gratification, as it enables us to exercise a 
sweet privilege, thus to do homage to a character 
which we have always esteemed. Such, we esti- 
mate, was the compeer of Chisholm and of Esk- 
ridge." 

"Rev. Wm, C. Bagnall was a young gentleman 
of fine promise. He became a member of the 
Cumberland Street Baptist Church, in 1854, when 
he commenced studying for the ministry, under 
the Rev. Mr. Winston. He was, after a short time, 



230 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 



licensed to preach, and he displayed talent which 
showed that if his life had been spared he would 
have made an eminent minister of the Gospel. His 
sermons would have done credit to an older head 
than his. He was untiring in his visits to the sick 
and dying, during the whole time that the fever 
made its appearance amongst us, reading and pray- 
ing with them, and giving them all the consolation 
in his power — thus showing an example for older 
ministers to follow. But he is gone to his reward, 
having fallen in the spring-time of his life." 

Rev. Vernon Eskridge (Methodist Episcopal), 
Chaplain United States Navy, and Wm. Jones, of 
the African Methodist Episcopal Church, were 
both men of great worth of character; devoted, 
faithful, and zealous. They were highly esteemed 
as ministers of deep-toned piety, sound judgment, 
and extensive usefulness, and their loss is sadly 
felt. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE RESIDENT PHYSICIANS — DRS. SILVESTER — IIIGGINS — UPSHUR 
— ( ONSTABLE — SELDEN. 

The brave band of physicians belonging to our 
city, suffered fearfully from the onslaught of the 
enemy. Not one of those, who were at home 
during the epidemic, escaped a fierce attack, and 
ten were laid in the dust — martyrs in one of the 
holiest of causes. 

Drs. Win. Seidell, Wm. J. Moore, Robert B. 
Tunstall, E. D. Granier, Herbert M. Nash, G. W. 
Cowdery, F. S. Campos, Thos. I. Hardy, Robert 
H. Gordon, D. M. Wright, V. Friedeman, and D. 
W. Todd, were all severely ill of the fever, and re- 
covered. Dr. J. J. Simkins was compelled to leave 
during the fever, on account of his own ill health ; 
and he was also detained to attend a sister who was 
dangerously ill of the disease at Hampton, after 
leaving this city. He was one of the first to offer 
his services to the Board of Health, when the i'exi'V 
broke out. Dr. Wm. M. Wilson escaped an attack, 
having had the disease in the South in 1S52. He 



232 HISTORY OF TUE PESTILENCE. 

was appointed physician-in-chief, at the Julapi 
Hospital, at Lambert's Point, where his superior 
skill, and judicious official conduct were manifest; 
and his efforts there were spoken of in terms of the 
highest praise. Though he had retired from the 
profession of medicine for a not less lucrative call- 
ing, our valued fellow-citizen, Dr. Robt. W. Rose, is 
deserving of prominent mention among the gallant 
surviving ones. Disregarding all selfish considera- 
tions, and actuated by the pure desire to bring aid 
in the day of trial, he went into the arena where 
his former companions were engaged in the death 
struggle, and continued his zealous work till the 
latest moment when it could avail. He was ill of 
the disease ; but the attack was not a severe one. 
We give a list of the resident physicians, who 
died, in the order in which they fell : 1. Richard 
W. Silvester ; 2nd. Thos. F. Constable ; 3rd. George 
I. Halson ; 4th. Rich. J. Silvester ; 5th. Francis 
L. Higgins ; 6th. Junius A. Briggs ; 7th. Thomas 
Nash ; 8th. George L. Upshur ; 9th. Richd. B. 
Tunstall ; and 10th. Henry Selden. 

" Dr. R. W. Silvester was born in Princess Anne 
County, in the year 1801, and received his aca- 
demic education in Norfolk, in which city he 



HISTORY OF 

studied medicine under Drs. Fernandez and An- 
drews, with ureal zeal and success; and after at- 
tending the lectures al the University of Penn- 
sylvania, entered upon the practice of his profession 
in Norfolk County, admirably prepared to dis- 
oharge its high and varied responsibilities. Here 
be rapidly acquired a high professional reputation, 
and won, in an extraordinary degree, the affection 
and confidence of the entire community for a 
circle of many miles. After a practice of eighteen 
years of great labor and success in the country, 
he was induced to abandon his large and lucrative 
business, in consequence of declining health, which 
had suffered severely from constant exposure in a 
miasmatic district. He removed to Norfolk to 
regain his health, and to educate his children in 
the best schools which the city afforded, and 
resumed his professional duties in the year 1843. 

" His was a character pure and unselfish, gentle 
and amiable — constant in his attachments, and in- 
flexible in the discharge of duties. As might have 
been expected from one of his exalted worth, when 
the recent epidemic made its appearance in our 
midst, he did not abandon his post, but w 7 ent 
where duty called — and nobly fell." 



234 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

" It is to be supposed that, among medical men, 
those who went into the dens of the enemy for the 
purpose of grappling with him in his strength, 
there must have been proud victims. Among the 
foremost of those who thus fell, was the late Dr. 
F. L. Higgins. 

" It was announced in August, that this gentle- 
man was convalescent from his sharp attack of 
fever, and that he had gone to Philadelphia to 
recover strength for renewed labors in the cause 
in which he was disabled. His friends expected 
to see him return to duty in a short time, with 
renovated strength and skill — but alas, the treacher- 
ous disease fully maintained its character in his 
case. He experienced, in his retreat, the well- 
known, and almost surely fatal ' relapse' — and 
Death ' flapped its funeral wing' over the frame 
of the skillful physician and heroic devotee. 

"Dr. Higgins was about forty-five years of age. 
He was born and reared in Norfolk, and laid the 
foundation of his medical attainments under the 
training of his relative, the celebrated Thomas F. 
Andrews, who retired from the profession a few 
years since, to enjoy the affluence and fame which 
he had acquired in his practice in Norfolk. Dr. 
Higgins was 'the nephew of his uncle,' in the 



BISTOBY OF PHE PES lii.r.NCE. 23^ 

proudest sense of the term. The mantle of ability 
ami success seemed to have fallen upon his 
ihoulders — and many will bear testimony that he 
ut off in the midst of a noble career. 
" As a surgeon, he was eminently successful. 
Many very delicate and skillful operations were 
performed by him. with the happiest results. Pie 
had won a reputation to be envied. In his death, 
our medical constellation lost one of its fixed 
stars." 

"Dr. George L. Upshur, although he had not 
been in practice more than twelve years, had 
gained, by his untiring energy and earnest thirst 
after knowledge, a well-deserved and honorable 
position with his professional brethren. He was 
endowed with remarkable physical and intellectual 
activity. He was called to see the first cases in 
Norfolk, and was, for some days, the only physician 
in the city who witnessed the disease. His labors, 
during the prevalence of the plague, were im- 
mense ; yet, during them all, he continued to take 
a series of careful notes for future publication, and 
was to have prepared for the pages of the Medical 
Journal a history of the fatal epidemic. He fought 
with the pestilence, unscathed, almost up to the 



236 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

hour of its retiring from the field, and then, struck 
by a Parthian arrow, the hero fell. He was calm 
and firm in death, as in life ; prophesied the time 
of his dissolution, and appointed the hour for his 
funeral, which he selected to suit the convenience 
of his brethren, whom he desired all to surround 
his last resting-place. He died in the thirty-sixth 
year of his age." 

" Dr. Upshur's loss will not soon be made up," 
wrote Dr. Freeman, of Philadelphia. "I saw him 
three hours before his death: he had just called 
his wife to his side, and essayed to speak to her, 
but could not. He died ' the death of the righte- 
ous.' Only two days before his decease, his wife 
remarked to some friends standing at his bedside, 
' We are both prepared.' Never can I forget the 
instructive lesson I learned at that death-bed. 
1 May my latter end be like his.' " 

" We had all seen him day by day, in his usual 
round," said another, "ministering to the unceas- 
ing call of suffering humanity, and bestowing his 
professional aid upon the poor and the humble, as 
readily as upon the proud and exalted. There was 
a peculiar cheerfulness and sympathy in his tone, 
that struck the chord of hope in many an anxious 
sick one's breast; and we were almost disposed to 



Hi- 
think that his enviable temperament rendered him 
in vulnerable." 

A; the time of his melancholy demise, the fol- 
lowing appropriate tribute appeared in the Peten- 

"Dr. Upshur was as true a moral hero as the 

world over saw. and his course, during the present 

epidemic, lias fully established the truth of our 

;ion. Like the gallant Woodis, he commenced 

with the fever when it was in Barry's Row ; and, 
without even the hope of reward — except that 
which an approving conscience bestows — lie bat- 
tled manfully with the disease, and tendered his 
services alike to all the suffering. So untiring was 
lie in his exertions, and so wholly regardless of 
self in all that he did, that an eminent physician 
remarked that he believed it was scarcely pos- 
sible for Dr. Upshur to take the fever ; for while 
others had been seized with it and died, he, not- 
withstanding the risk incurred, was still alive and 
well, and grappling with it more manfully than 
ever. He was truly one of nature's noblemen, and 
lived for the good of others. 

He had a tear for pity, and a hand 
Open as day tor melting charity.' " 



238 HISTORY OP THE PESTILENCE. 

Dr. Thomas F. Constable was anotner of the 
resident physicians who fell at his post, after 
battling faithfully and skillfully with the mon- 
ster-malady that swept through our city and de- 
prived it of so many men of usefulness and sterling 
character. His age was about thirty-nine. He, 
too, was a favorite student of Dr. Thomas F. An- 
drews, deservedly celebrated as a man of extraor- 
dinary skill and success in his profession. Dr. C. 
subsequently repaired to Philadelphia, where he 
was noted for his correct deportment and studious 
habits ; and he was soon graduated. 

He was a careful and thoughtful observer of 
whatever tended to increase his knowledge in the 
different -branches of his useful profession. By a 
judicious and systematic course of reading, he hac 
stored his mind with valuable scientific informa- 
tion, was consequently successful in his practice, 
and had gained the confidence of the community as 
a wise and judicious practitioner. Unpretending 
and unostentatious in his general deportment, anc 
in his intercourse with men ; deliberate and cau- 
tious in the performance of his official duties ; con- 
scientious and honorable in his dealings with 
others, he possessed a weight and force of charac- 
ter, and an influence in the circle of his acquaint- 



HBTOXtY ov Tin 

luce, that wore known, acknowledged, and appre- 
ciated. 

A few weeks before he was attacked, he ac- 
companied hia estimable and devoted wife and 
two Lovely children to the Balu brio us mountain re- 
lions of our State, where he could have remained, 
breathing the pure and healthful atmosphere, far 
away from the pestilence that reigned here, and 
surrounded by friends and relatives who esteemed 
and loved him. But his idea of duty called him 
home to the scenes of death and wretchedness 
that were witnessed in this afflicted city. As a 
member of the Board of Health, he was punctual 
and faithful in the discharge of his duties, and until 
seized by the unmistakable premonitory chill, he 
was constant in his, professional visitations to 
the abodes of disease, death, and woe. 

Soon after his attack, it was too evident that 
his name would swell the long list of the dead. 
Calmly watching the fearful inroads of the fatal 
malady, and after patiently submitting to the 
remedial efforts that were deemed requisite in his 
case, he told his friend and attending physician, in 
Latin, that his remedies would prove unavailing, 
and came to the conclusion that the progress of the 
disease could not be arrested by human power, and 






240 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 



that he must soon be in his grave. Then he quiet- 
ly awaited nature's dissolution, and the eventful 
moment when he would exchange this for another 
and an unending state of existence. 

On being told by one who watched at his 
bedside, that he must soon enter upon the 
untried realities of another world, and on being 
asked if he felt ready for the awful change, he 
simply and pleasantly remarked, " I prepared for 
this long ago." He had been faithfully instructed 
in his childhood and youth, by pious parents, in 
the saving principles and doctrines of the Bible, < 
and had learned and embraced the all-important 
lesson : That faith in Christ alone was the only 
hope of salvation. As peaceful and calm as the 
setting of the summer's sun, he closed his eyes in 
death. His active form sleeps quietly now, like 
the rest of the great company that were hurried 
out to the silent burial place ; and his redeemed 
and happy spirit has returned to the great and 
merciful Creator, doubtless to be glorified, peace- 
ful, and joyful, during the ceaseless and ample 
sweep of eternal ages. 

" The professional education of Dr. Henry Selden 
was a fair model for aspirants to skill and fame in 



history OP THE PE8TTLEM B. 2 I 1 

the useful and honorable vocation of the practice 
of medicine. In his studies he neglected nothing 

which could add to the stock of his already well- 
stored mind. His private preceptor, Dr. \Y. W. 
Gerhard, was one of his firmest friends and warm- 
dmirers. 

| "After taking- his diploma at the University of 
Pennsylvania, he was elected resident physician to 
Blockley, the largest and best conducted hospital 
in the city of Philadelphia. Here he showed the 
most untiring industry, and his attainments were 
constantly brought into view, and became the 
theme of daily admiration on the part of his 
associates. 

" After a residence of eighteen months in the hos- 
pital, he went to Paris to complete a professional 
education which seemed already finished. His as- 
sociates there awarded him the credit of being 
one of the most industrious and intelligent of the 
American students then in that great medical em- 
porium. He remained in Paris three years, re- 
turned to his native 'city, and commenced his 
career, which promised to be so brilliant. 

" Clear and decided in diagnosis, firm and self- 
relying in practice, his success was such as might 

have been expected from one who, with talents of 
11 



242 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

a superior order, had cultivated and trained his 
mind in a most judicious manner. His success 
commanded the admiration of his patients and 
friends — and his generous, kind, and charitable 
conduct won the love of all who were brought 
within the sphere of its bearing. Though young, 
having a little more than completed his thirty* 
seventh year, his reputation was already great; 
and yet, in his death, and in the midst of his use- 
fulness, was he taken from us. Truly, the ways 
of Providence are inscrutable, and past finding 
out." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

DRS. HALSON, NASH, BRIGGS, TUNSTALL, SILVESTER, JR., AND 
THE RESIDENT l'UVSK lAXS OF PORTSMOUTH. 

" Dr Geo. I. Halson was one of those who, 
knowing his duty, had the courage to stand at his 
post, and with the heroism of gallant soldiery in 
his profession, did he labor day and night to relieve 
the suffering of his fellow-citizens. His physical 
strength was inadequate to the task necessarily 
imposed upon him in the condition of things in our 
devoted city. He was among the first in the pro- 
fession to take the disease : the worst fears of his 
friends and relatives soon became a reality. He 
.fell a speedy victim, after bearing the sufferings of 
his malady with the resignation and submission of 
a true Christian. He was about thirty-seven years 
of age. 

" From his early boyhood to the time of his 
death he displayed such qualities of heart and 
mind as to endear to him a large circle of friends. 
His moral and scholastic education was conducted 
by his father with the utmost care. The progress 



244 HISTORY OP THE PESTILENCE. 

and promise of an only boy made glad the heart of 
his aged parent, who felt justly proud of such a 
son. 

" He read medicine in the office of Dr. W. B. 
Selden, where his fidelity as a student won the 
warm regard of his preceptor. His professional 
education was completed in Philadelphia. After 
taking his diploma, he remained as a resident phy- 
sician in the Blockley Hospital for eighteen 
months, thereby securing all the advantages which 
that great school could give. 

" He practiced medicine in this city fifteen 
years, during which time his attention and skill 
won the confidence and regard of his patients, and 
none enjoyed the respect and esteem of his brother 
physicians more than he. His high tone and sense 
of professional courtesy were acknowledged by all 
who knew him. He was incapable of any. viola-, 
tion of professional etiquette. His conduct was a 
code of medical ethics. His morality was prover- 
bial, yet he had a claim still higher in being a con- 
sistent Christian — having united himself to the 
Protestant Episcopal church in the spring of 1851. 

" His death is a great affliction to his aged 
mother who loved him with all the devotion and 
pride due a good, affectionate and noble son." 



BBS 

Dr. Thomas Nash was a gentleman of much 
Intelligence ami experience. He was highly re- 
spected for his urbanity ami consisted piety. A 
circle of relatives and friends mourn his loss. 

His la.sr hours exhibited a triumph over Death. 

Dr. Junius A. I iso fell a victim to the 

scourge, lie was quite a young man, of pleasing 
manners, line personal appearance, ami a liberal 
education, having enjoyed superior facilities, in 
Europe as well as in this country, for acquiring an 
extensive acquaintance with the different branches 
of his profession. His father, A. Briggs, merchant, 
and a sister, were also cut down by the unsparing 
hand of the destroyer. 

" Dr. Richard B. Tunstall, the subject of this 
notice, was one of the many who fell victims of 
the yellow fever while diligently and constantly 
engaged at his post during the epidemic. 

"He was a young man when thus suddenly and 
unexpectedly cut off in the midst of usefulness ; 
but it needs not gray hairs to give proper weight 
to character. Even upon the young will moral 
worth and devotion to the nobler duties of life be- 
stow a capacity to influence, and a power to charm, 



246 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

which demonstrate that virtue's ways are those in 
which we should delight to move — onwards and 
upwards. . 

"DivTunstall, after having received a good pre- 
paratory education, attended the lectures at the 
University of Pennsylvania ; and so faithfully had 
he availed himself of the opportunities there offered, 
that, before taking his diploma at that school, he 
appeared before the Naval Board for the examina- 
tion of candidates for admission to the medical corps 
of the United States Navy, and passed the exami- 
nation with credit to himself. He afterwards con- 
tinued his studies, and graduated at the University 
of Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1S49. 

" His first and only cruise was made in the United 
States ship St. Mary's, with Captain Geo. Magru- 
der, during which he became the special favorite 
of all the officers and ship's company. The ser- 
vice, however, did not suit his taste, and he, there- 
fore, resigned his commission. During the fever, 
he faithfully 'kept his post, to which duty, humani- 
ty, and heroic inclination called him. It was here 
he fell. On the 19th of September, he was seized 
with the disease, and died on the 24th, after five 
days of patient suffering. 

" As an officer, he was loved and respected for the 



MMtOVt of Tnr. 247 

sterling qualities of his character, and his faithful 
and energetic performance of every duty. As i 
civilian, he bad the warmest personal regard of the 
citizens of the place where he was born and reared. 
In his deportment, there was no air of pretension ; 
but there was a simple and dignified candor in his 
address, which, like ' the window in the breast,' 
gave insight to the promptings of a pure nature." 

Dr. Richard J. Silvester, the oldest son of Dr. R. 
TV. Silvester, by nature delicate and frail, and worn 
down by fatigue and distress in the death of his 
father, and the approaching dissolution of his bro- 
ther, Wm. H., could hold out no longer against 
accumulating afflictions — and, after a feeble resist- 
ance, yielded to the disease. 

He was born in Norfolk County, in 1S2S ; his 
education was conducted, with great care, in Nor- 
folk, at F. W. Coleman's, and at the University of 
Virginia, where he attained great distinction for 
his acquirements, not only in the classics, but also 
in the sciences, especially in pure mathematics, in 
which, we have been assured by his associates, he 
had very few equals. He graduated at the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1SJ4, and 
immediately entered upon the practice of his pro- 



248 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

fession, in which he gave abundant promise of dis- 
tinction. He, too, like his father, fell a victim to 
that high sense of professional duty and honor that 
would not suffer him to desert his post in time of 
danger. 

RESIDENT PHYSICIANS* OF PORTSMOUTH. 

Drs. J. N. Schoolfield, C. Spratley, G. W. 0. 
Maupin, James L. Hatton, and Wm. J. Cocke, had 
the fever, and recovered. 

Drs. J. W. H. Trugien, R. H. Parker, M. P. 
Lovett, and L. P. Nicholson, died of the disease. 

Drs. Bilisoly and Hodges escaped, or were not 
attacked. 

We regret that we cannot present some brief 
biographical sketches of the worthy martyrs who 
fell, the noble victims among the physicians of 
Portsmouth. The omission is, however, unavoid- 
able ; suffice it, therefore, to say, that they behaved 
heroically, generously, and ably in that fearful 
battle with the unseen and insidious foe to life 
and health. Day and night they were seen in the 
performance of their labors of benevolence in the 
cause of suffering humanity ; doing more than ordi- 
nary men could bear, till, worn down by fatigue, 
the disease found them easy and ready victims. 



EOST0B.Y Or THE PESTILENCB. 249 

They who survived, and the fortunate two who 
escaped, are not less entitled to the gratitude and 
honor of their fellow-citizens. Those who witness- 
ed that period of death and suffering, can alone 
appreciate the services of the heroes who strove 
to stay the destructive progress of the fearful 
disorder. 
11* 



CHAPTER XXX. . 

VISITING PHYSICIANS AND OTHERS — THE EOLL OF HONOR DRS. 

GOOCH, CAPRI, ETC. 

The following is the list of physicians and 
others who came to the relief of our suffering 
people, with their places of residence, and the date 
of their arrival. It will be observed that twenty- 
Jive of those who came met the fate which they 
sought to avert from others. Honored ht their 
memories and green be their graves ! 

Dr. TV. Stone, New Orleans, August 16, 1855. 

Dr. Thos. Penniston, New Orleans, August 17. 

Dr. TVm. H. Freeman, Philadelphia, August. 

Eev. T. G. Keen, Petersburg, August 20. 

Dr. De Castro, Cuba, August 21. 

Dr. John F. Carter, Eichmond, August 23. 

Dr. John Morris, Baltimore, August 24. 

Capt. Nathan Thompson, Philadelphia, August 24. 

Dr. A. A. Zeiglefuss, Philadelphia, August 25. 

Dr. Jas. McFadden, Philadelphia, August 26. 

Dr. J. T. Hargrove, Richmond, August 25. 

Dr. E. D. Fenner, New Orleans, August 25. 

Dr. C. Beard, New Orleans, August 25. 

Dr. E. T. TVorl, Philadelphia, August 25. 

Dr. St. J. Ravenel, S. C, August 27. 

Dr. N. J. Crow, Richmond, August 28. 



HISTOKY OF THE PESTILENCE. 251 

Dr. A. B. Wifflman, S. 0., August 28 
Dr. J. Ilitt. Georgia, August 20. 
Dr. W. II. i 0., August 29. 

Dr. T. ('. Skrine, S. 0., Augusl 2D. 
Dr. F. M. Garret, N". 0., August 29. 
A. ML Loryear, S. 0., August 29. 
A. R. Tuber. S. ('.. August 29. 
Dr. Bignon, Georgia, August 29. 
Dr. Donalson, Georgia, August 29. 
A. J. Gibbs, Philadelphia, August 30. 
Dr. Marsh. .Philadelphia. August 30. 
Dr. E. C. Steele, S. C, August 30. 
W. Porcher Miles, S. 0., August 30. 
Dr. Campbell, Xew Orleaus, August 30. 

D. I. Ricardo, Xew Orleans, August 30. 
Dr. J. B. Read. Georgia, August 30. 
Dr. Godfrey, Georgia, August 30. 

Dr. Skinner, Georgia. August 30. 

Dr. Charlton, Georgia, August 30. 

Dr. McFarland, Georgia, August 30 

Dr. Xunn, Georgia, August 30. 

Capt. Thomas J. Ivy, Xew Orleans, August 30. 

E. E. Jackson, S. C, August 30. 
Dr. Williams, D. C, August 31. 
Dr. G. S. West, X". Y., August 31. 
Dr. J. B. Holmes, S. C, August 31. 
Judge Olin, Georgia, Sept. 1. 
John Taliaferro, Georgia, Sept. 1. 
Dr. Freer, X. Y., Sept. 1. 

Franklin H. Clack, Xew Orleans, Sept. 5. 

Dr. Robinson, X". Y., Sept. 3. 

Dr. R. M. Miller, Mobile, Sept. 3. 

Wm. Ballantine, Mobile, Sept. 3. 

Dr. W. B. Thompson, Georgia, Sept. 6. 

Dr. Baker, Key West, Sept. 7. 

Wm. T. Walthall, Mobile, Sept. 7. 



252 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

Dr. R. E. McKay, Georgia, Sept. 9. 

Dr. A. B. Campbell, Philadelphia, Sept. 9. 

Dr. Wilson, Cuba, Sept. 11. 

Wm. C. Miller, Mobile, Sept, 12, 

Wm. N". Ghiselin, New Orleans, Sept. 12. 

Mr. Rucker, Montgomery, Ala., Sept. 13. 

Mr. Clowes, Montgomery, Ala., Sept. 13. 

Dr. Fredericks, N. T., Sept. 14. 

Dr. John Yaughau, London, Sept. 17. 

Dr. McFarlane, New Orleans, Sept. 18. 

A. H. Jennett, Mobile, Sept. 18. 

The labors of the following physicians were 
confined principally to Portsmouth. 

Drs. Riser, Briggs, Mierson, Kennedy, Bryant, Azpell, Molle, 
Hammill, McClosky, and Randall, of Philadelphia. 
Drs. Webster and Hungerford, of Baltimore. 
Dr. Thomas, of Cincinnati. 
Dr. Flournoy, of Tennessee. 
Dr. Baker, of Key West. 
Drs. Rich and Covert, of Charleston. 
Dr. McDowell, of Richmond. 
Dr. Thomson, of Virginia. 

All of the above had the fever and recovered, 
excepting Drs. Randall, McClosky, Baker, and 
McDowell, who escaped. 

"THE DEAD." 
Dr. Leon Gilbardt, of Richmond. 
Dr. P. C. Gooch, of Richmond. 
Dr. Walter, of Baltimore. 
Dr. Robert Thomson, of Baltimore. 
Dr. T. H. Craycroft, of Philadelphia. 
Dr. Fliess, of Baltimore. 
Dr. T. Booth, of Baltimore. 



BESTOW OF nir. P] - in.i.Nrr. 2.">3 

Dr» Howe, of Baltimore. 

Dr. Bowie, of Richmond. 

Dp. T. Mierson, of Philadelphia. 

Dr. Richard Blow, of Sussex, Va. 

Dr. Thomas W. Handy, of Philadelphia. 

Dr. A. G. Smith, of Pa. 

Dr. Jackson, D. C. 

Dr. Dabershe, D. C. 

Dr. Schell, of New York. 

Dr. Obermuller, of Georgia. 

Dr. R. B. Berry, of Tennessee. 

Dr. Dillard, of Montgomery, Ala. ^ 

Dr. Capri, of New York. 

Dr. Hunter, of New York. 

Dr. Cole, of Philadelphia. 

Dr. Walter, of Baltimore. 

Dr. Marshall, of Baltimore. 

Dr. Crowe, of Richmond. 

The services of the five last named were ren- 
dered principally in Portsmouth. 

The following tribute to the memory of the la- 
mented Dr. Gooch, of Richmond, is from the pages 
of the Stethoscope, Richmond, the journal which he 
founded, and which was the child of his fondest 
love : 

" It is but seldom that we have been called to 
a more melancholy duty than this record of the 
death of Dr. Philip Claiborne Gooch, of this city. 
When cries of distress were borne on every breeze 
from our sister cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, 



254 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

he repaired to the scene of woe ; and, having been 
an eye-witness to the dreadful havoc of the pesti- 
lence, he hastily returned to his home, and, after 
completing some business arrangements, with 
characteristic heroism and self-devotion, he re- 
paired again to the scene of suffering, determined 
to peril all in the cause of humanity. But, alas ! 
he had scarcely entered on his humane mission, 
when he became the victim of the invisible foe. 

"Dr. Gooch was just entering upon the career 
of matured manhood. Possessed of decided talents 
and unusual energy of character, he had before 
him the prospects of fame and fortune. As a phy- 
sician, he had a high appreciation of the dignity 
and duties of his calling, and was a zealous co- 
worker for the maintenance of its respectability 
and progress. 

" Having spent several years abroad, in the 
prosecution of his professional education, his views 
were liberal and enlarged. He was a punctual 
attendant on all conventions of medical men, and 
labored efficiently for their thorough organization. 
He was the founder of this journal, and bravely 
and successfully encountered all the discourage- 
ments of a pioneer in that sphere of labor. 

"Perhaps his characteristic trait, was a bold, 



HVT0BY 01 nil: n Bl n.r.N 

independent outspeaking of hia honest convictions, 
lie sought no advancement or preferment by the 

arts of the sycophant. Brave, generous, just, pos- 

d of a genial disposition — few men have lefl 
behind them fewer enemies, or more attached 
friends. 

"During his illness, which lasted some time, he 
had the very best attention that could have been 
given him under any circumstances. Two young 
physicians, who had been companions of his while 
in France, were with him almost every moment of 
his sickness ; besides whom, he had, among other 
nurses, a colored female from Charleston, who is 
regarded as one of the best of the troop who 
came. Everything was done for him that kind- 
ness and skill could suggest. His attack was a 
severe one, and, though possessed of a powerful 
constitution, he sank under it. He retained the 
possession of his senses to the last, and died quietly 
and calmly. Mr. Henry Myers, of Richmond, a 
most active and efficient nurse at the hospital, was 
sent for a few moments before his death ; and Dr. 
Gooch, upon being aware of his presence in the 
room, attempted to say something to him, but could 

only pronounce the words, ' Tell my mother ." 

He was too far gone to say more, and expired im- 



256 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

mediately afterward. Thus died one of nature's 
noblemen, who gave up his life for the good of 
his fellow-men, and whose memory will long be 
cherished by all who delight to dwell on the 
blooming spots in this desert world, through which 
we are traveling onward to eternity." 

"Amongst the many noble hearts and gallant 
spirits who fell victims to the terrible pestilence 
which desolated Norfolk and Portsmouth, was 
Dr. Richard Blow, of Sussex. To those that 
knew him well, this occasioned more regret 
than surprise. It was only a short time before, 
when, deaf to the remonstrance of friends, and 
to the calls of even duty and affection, but 
true to the impulses of his nature, he left 
his native county (where his practice was ex- 
tensive, and where his reputation was well es- 
tablished), on that voluntary mission of mercy 
from which he never returned. But this was in 
character with the man, and with the whole tenor 
of his life. For him, danger had always a sort of 
charm, and death had no terror. A kinder heart, 
a warmer friend, a manlier foe, a braver and more 
generous spirit, never lived, than Richard Blow. 
He died as he lived, without fear or reproach — 



■ROSY Off nn: Pi -m r.v 

without one particle of selfishness— an enthu 
in reeling and in principle — an ultraist in the cause 
of humanity." 



11 Dr. Capri was a Hungarian, and physically one 
of the handsomest specimens of the genus homo 
that was ever seen. He came over to this country 

in the suite of Gen. Kossuth, and followed him in 
his tour -of the United States. When he reported 
himself to Judge Olin, at the Howard Office, that 

gentleman strongly advised him to leave the place 
immediately, assuring him that he would most cer- 
tainly fall a victim to the disease ; that there were 
already physicians enough here who were acclima- 
ted, or came from a southern climate, to attend to 
the sick, and that it was needless for him to peril 
his life hopelessly. Indeed, so far from doing any 
good himself, he would only be in the way of 
others, as, by getting sick, he must require attend- 
ance and nursing. But to this his response was : 
1 1 shall not leave ; I am resolved to stay.' He 
then appealed to some of the prominent physicians, 
who all gave him the same advice, and to whom 
he made the same responses as to Judge Olin. He 
had only been here four days when he took the 
fever, and, although he received every aid from 



258 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

the best pnysicians and nurses, in four days more 
he was under the sod." 

Where so many acted bravely and efficiently, 
and died gloriously, of course it is impossible to 
present sketches of all, or even the greater por- 
tion. We have added these brief tributes with no 
intention of giving undue credit to a few, to the 
neglect of the rest. Many noble men fell. These 
tributary remarks suffice as a fair exhibit of the 
character of those who sank beneath the power of 
the pestilence. To write out even a short account 
of each, would require a volume of, perhaps, a 
thousand pages. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



MRS. BAYLOR — MI; 



The terrific, pestilential storm that swept so fu- 
riously by, deprived our city of many of its bright- 
est and most valued ornaments. Manly forms, 
brave hearts, beating with nature's noblest im- 
pulses — men and women of intellectual strength 
and culture, were hurried with the rest, from our 
midst, in the "overwhelming ruin. 

Our city suffers a sad and incalculable loss in the 
death of a uumber of ladies of superior mind, rare 
accomplishments, and most estimable character. 
Among those who were thus suddenly called away 
from a sphere of usefulness, was Mrs. Catherine 
B. Baylor. 

Possessing, naturally, uncommon mental endow- 
ments, .and having enjoyed the advantages of care- 
ful and skillful intellectual training, with an innate 
fondness for study, for the acquisition of knowledge, 
and, indeed, for the pursuit of the beauties of lite- 
rature and science, she was deservedly distinguished 



260 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

as a lady of high mental cultivation, and refined 
literary taste. She was noted as a linguist, and 
especially as a Latin and French scholar. 

Mrs. Baylor was remarkable, too, for firmness 
and decision of character, which, with her varied 
attainments, a naturally judicious mind, and, 
withal, a mild and amiable disposition, admirably 
fitted her for the discharge of her responsible 
duties, as principal of the Female Seminary, to 
which she devoted many years of her life, and 
whose success and popularity were the surest 
evidences of her faithfulness and ability in the 
highly honorable calling she had chosen. 

The great calamity that desolated our city, and 
spread over its entire limits, as it were, a pall of 
deep and deepening sorrow, found few, if any, 
more interesting families than that of which the 
lamented subject of this notice was the respected 
head ; and with few, alas, was the destroying agent 
more unsparing and relentless. She had watched, 
with all the anxiety and tender solicitude of a 
devoted mother, at the 'death bedside of three 
interesting daughters. The deceitful and treacher- 
ous malady had appeared in its most virulent type, 
and attacked, one after another, the members of 
her Uappy and united household. The roseate 



history OF PHB PE8TILENCB, 881 

blush of health and 'beauty gave place fco the 
sallow hue, deeply imprinted upon the cheek by 
tht» dreadful African fever, and Conns of gracefulness 
lay powerless, cold, and still. Death hushed the 
soft, familiar voices of the most loved, and, with his 
eleton finger," closed the eyes that had beamed 
with the native light of love, and joy, and intelli- 
gence. The young hearts that had boat in unison 
with hers — pulsating with the fondest emotions of 
reeiproeal and filial affection — had ceased to move 
with the gentle throbbings of life ; and her strong- 
est ties to this •■ vale of tears" were rudely severed. 
Oppressed with a weight of affliction too heavy, 
even for her disciplined mind, to sustain, and ex- 
hausted by overtaxing her physical energies, the 
mysterious foreigu malady found her a ready, 
though bereaved, and chastened victim. Her 
spiritual eye gazed far beyond the limited bounds 
of time and earth. Faith plumed and lifted its 
wings for the upward flight, as if weary of the un- 
ecpial earthly strife, and anxious to soar heaven- 
ward — to rise triumphant to the blissful land of 
unclouded brightness, and re-unite with those 
whom Death's palsying touch had spoiled — and 
God had taken — to part no more. Thus exulting 
with hope, and cheered on in the " dark valley," 



262 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

by the priceless faith of the Gospel, she uttered, 
in feeble, but distinct accents, while yet lingering 
upon the verge of time : " Rejoicing and praising 
the Lord forever and ever !" And thus she sank 
into the chill arms of Death. She was a member 
of Christ Church — Protestant Episcopal. 

"MISS ANN P. B. HEBRON 

was one among the brightest and purest of those 

who were wrecked in the common ruin of hopes 

in our late afflictive visitation. Her works live 

after her ; and the memory of her exalted character 

and her self-sacrificing spirit, her Christianity and 

charity, constitutes a monument endeared to the 

hearts of thousands who felt and prized her worth. 

" No one could have left the miasmatic hold with 
• 
more convenience than Miss Herron. Possessed 

of a noble fortune, and of a refined nature, she had 

every incentive to participate in the attractions 

which are presented to the taste and fancy, in 

more populous portions of our country ; but with 

the united firmness and benevolence which were 

her characteristics, she decided to remain amidst 

desolation and disease, though the sky was laden 

with portents of her fate. Miss H. was a Roman 

Catholic." 



history of THE n.sm.rNCE. 868 

The following extract is from a touching letter, 

written by one who well know her rare virtues. 
We will not mar its beauty by any other remarks 
than to call for its careful perusal by the reader : 

" It seems as if God demanded the purest vic- 
tims, the noblest of his creatures, in these dismal 
days of sacrifice. Alas! I had so confided in his 
considerate mercies, so fondly clung to the merits 
of that excellent heart, which, through long years, 
had served him well, that I could not persuade 
myself that he would recall from earth, which she 
sanctified and adorned, our dear Ann Herron. And 
now, when the reality of her death stares me in 
the face, I am stunned by the unexpected blow, 
and seem bereft of power to think and feel as I 
ought. Oh ! it is a very sad visitation ! I know 
that she has merited and received a very great 
reward in Heaven. Therefore, it is not for her I 
mourn. But for the friendless, the poor, the 
fatherless, the timid, the pusillanimous whom she 
protected, succored, edified, and strengthened ; 
ah ! these are the objects of my compassion ; 
these are the true sufferers whose lot is to be de- 
plored." 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE EDITORS OF THE BEACON, MESSRS. CUNNINGHAM, GATEWOOD, 

ROBERTSON, ETC. WM. D. ROBERTS HIS "WILL WM. D. DELANY 

TRUE HEROISM JAS. H. EINCH, AND OTHERS. 

"The cases of Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Gate- 
wood, of the Norfolk Beacon, were particularly har- 
rowing. They were well-connected in Norfolk, 
both single men, and both could have left ; but 
their connections began to be seized, and they 
would not fly and desert them. Mr. Cunningham 
attended upon and buried a dear friend and rela- 
tive, Mrs. Commander Barron, in her day one of 
the most brilliant of the Southern belles at the 
Balls ton Spa. Almost alone, and in the dead of 
night, he buried her in the Barron family grave- 
yard ; and subsequently her daughter ; Captain 
Starke, of the United States marine corps — a rela- 
tive by marriage — and then his wife and her 
daughter ; and then a near and dear cousin, Mr. 
Starke's sister — all of whom he nursed and cared 
for with the tenderest interest, and with whom he 
would remain, in spite of the most earnest solici- 



; 

tations from relatives abroad, to abandon the pes- 
tiferous place. J >u t while DUraing the lasl ol them 

— the favorite couaiD — the disease seized him and 
harried him to the grave. Another cousin — R. 
Qatewood, his partner — doubtless, waited upon 
and nursed him; hut Mr. Gatewood died, and 

only the old and worthy father and mother remain 
of a once large circle of relatives. The branches are 

withered, but the trunk remains in Norfolk. Death 
so interlaced the destinies of one with another, that 
no one could leave without deserting some other, 
on the bed of disease and death." 

But there were many victims who merit more 
than a passing notice. Joseph H. Robertson, 
.. a talented lawyer, and attractive orator, 
and the efficient Register of the city, having 
been deprived by the scourge of his accom- 
plished lady, retired to the beautiful country- 
seat of Hon. F. Mallory, in Elizabeth City County, 
where he, too, was prostrated by the disease, and 
soon sank, a ready and easy victim, beneath its 
wilting power. On a calm and beautiful evening, 
when the moon looked serenely down, and lighted 
up the charming landscape) and Nature seemed in 
silent contemplation, his remains were conveyed 

to the quiet grave-yard, in a beautiful rural spot, 
12 



266 HISTORY OP THE PESTILENCE. 

where the closing ceremonies attending a burial 
by moonlight are represented as having been sol- 
emn and impressive to an extraordinary degree. 

" Among the many valuable citizens who had 
contributed by their industry, their enterprise, and 
their means, to the prosperity of Norfolk, and who. 
were swept away in the whirlwind of the pesti- 
lence, "Wm. D. Roberts, jr., was one of the most 
prominent. Bred to a mechanical occupation, he 
began the world with no other resources than those 
which sprung from his own native energy and per- 
severance, directed by a strong mind, a sagacious 
judgment, and strict moral principle. Upon these, 
however, he soon laid the foundation of success, and, 
ere he passed the meridian of life, had completed 
the superstructure of an ample fortune. Yet he 
never practiced a niggard economy in his acquisition 
of wealth, but showed, by his many acts of private 
generosity and public spirit, that he had a noble 
and a generous heart, that was a stranger to all 
narrow and sordid impulses. His fellow-citizens saw 
his merits, and honored him with their confidence 
in various public trusts in the affairs of the city, in 
which he took an active and a useful part." At 
the time of his death he was the member elect, for 
this city, of the Virginia House of Delegates. 



HISTORY OP run PE8TXLBKOB. J67 

His age was forty-seven. He was a man of strong 
and active frame, and of line constitution. On his 
death-bed he bequeathed to his aged mother all his 
Stocks, amounting to a handsome interest, besides 
8300 per annum during her Life-time, and two new 
buildings. To an only-surviving brother,* he 
81000 per annum; to the Norfolk Female Orphan 
Asylum, lour three-story brick buildings, and an 
interest (in remainder) in another valuable dwell- 
ing on one of the principal streets. To his surviv- 
ing partner, Mr. D. S. Cherry, he gave a large and 
handsome warehouse and lot on Roanoke Square, 
all his interest in a valuable stock of goods, and all 
debts due the firm. To Mr. Sol. S. Cherry, who 
ministered to him in his illness, he gave a valuable 
warehouse and lot, and to the journeymen in the 
employment of the firm, a valuable house and lot. 

On the 17th September, Wm. D. Delany, Esq., 
formerly mayor of the city, fell a victim to the 
fever, at the age of forty-five. He was first elected 
to the office of Mayor on the 24th June, 1843, and 
was annually honored with a large majority of the 
%tes of his fellow-citizens for eight years. He dis- 
charged the duties pertaining to the office faithfully 

* Another brother, Thomas- who was a partner in business, 
having died of the fever. 



268 HISTOEY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

and firmly, and, as a citizen, was respected for his 
amiable qualities and obliging disposition. He pos- 
sessed a fine physical constitution ; was active, 
strong, and vigorous, with a well-developed frame. 
Only a day before his attack, he told the writer 
that his health was never better ; but he was a fair 
specimen of the many healthful, strong, and pow- 
erful who fell before the terrific tread of the dreaded, 
fever-monster. After a conflict of only two or 
three days, he was laid in the grave. At the time 
of his death he held the office of cashier of the 
Merchants and Mechanics' Savings Bank. 
" Chas. H. Beale, Esq., also fell a victim. For many 
years of his brief career- he was editor of the Daily 
News, which ably-conducted journal was found- 
ed by himself, and which sufficiently attested his 
merits as a man of enterprise and talent ; but while 
his literary reputation rests chiefly upon his abili- 
ty as a journalist, there are yet other productions 
of his pen which justice to his memory, justice to 
surviving relations, and justice to the lovers and 
appreciators of true genius, should bring to light — 
that a discriminating public may receive those te#- 
timonials of worth and talent which those who 
knew him best needed not — to which he, alas ! in 
the land whither he is gone, is all indifferent." 






BISTORT OP THE it>tii.i:n 

The death of Mr. James II. Finch, the Intelligent 
and gentlemanly foreman of the ArgUi offioe 1 was 

greatly lamented by all who knew his sterling 
worth of character. He well deserves all of the 
many tributes that were offered to his memory by 
the press. 

The writer might be induced to consider much 
of what has been said and written, of the brave 
though unassuming and unpretending Finch, mere 
superfluous praise, if he had not known him — if he 
had not been an eye-witness of his noble and self- 
sacrificing acts — his true heroism and genuine 
benevolence, especially in the alarming and memo- 
rable time of the pestilence. In addition to his 
extraordinary labors in publishing the Argus, with 
insufficient help, he was active in visiting the sick, 
and assisting in burying the dead — going fearlessly 
in the hottest of the battle, and acting his part 
bravely. After feeling the symptoms of the fever, 
he accompanied his wife and child to Petersburg, 
and his attack being a violent one, he soon, calmly 
and resignedly, breathed his last. 

Good deeds, equivalent to those of an ordinary 
life-time, are sometimes crowded into the short 
space of a few weeks or days — when mind, heart, 
soul, and body are all exerted to their utmost 






270 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

capacity, in the holy cause of benefiting and 
relieving suffering, perishing, dying men, women, 
and children ; and the reward is in propor- 
tion to the good effected, the sorrow relieved, 
the blessings conferred, without regard to days 
or years. " I was an hungered, and ye gave me 
meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : * * * 
I was sick, and ye visit-ed me." 

" These are trying times," wrote a talented lady 
of Petersburg. " Many are heroes who were not 
heroes before, and many are no longer heroes who 
were apotheosized before. It is during such soul- 
trying periods that men spring up, as if by magic, 
to meet emergencies, which the vain-glorious hero 
of prosperity's glittering days flies appalled. True 
heroism shrinks from display, and scorns to cringe 
unto the powers that be — bares its noble breast 
before the pestilence, and lo, a hero falls ! Many 
are the noble, self-sacrificing spirits which have 
fallen before the pestilence ; but there were none 
more noble — none more self-sacrificing — none 
more deserving of a tribute from lip and pen — 
than he, whose name adorns the head of this arti- 
cle. And we esteem it a privilege — and we glory 
in the privilege, which enables us this day to pay 
a tribute to such a hero. We have no compli- 



HISTORY OF 1 ill. PES! I v r. L>7 | 

monts'for the leaden of the allied armies, who. 

with columns of dauntless men, fighi for a des- 

3 crown. We have no pean for the conqueror 

whose path is. strewn with the slain, and no flour- 
ish of our pen shall exalt the bloody hero of a 
battle-field ; but for James II. Finch we would 
•weave a garland of immortelles, and with our 
hand place it upon the pallid brow of the man 
who, through all the terrors of the awful scourge, 
1 tried to do his duty.' Such, dear readers, are 
the men whom our columns shall honor — such the 
actions that, with all the powers we can invoke 
from Heaven, we shall endeavor to exalt. 

* * * 

: ' No sectarian feeling — no tinge of bigotry is 
wanting here. Closer are the ties uniting us, now 
that disease stalks unchecked, and the great and 
the small are falling at each terrible stroke. 
When brother calleth unto brother for help, and 
all petty creeds, and prejudices, and modes of 
worship, shrink into insignificance in the terrible 
hour of His wrath. Now is the time to visit the 
widow and the orphan, and to keep ourselves un- 
spotted from the world. Now is the time for heart 
to encourage heart, and for the living to smooth 
the path of death. Now the religion of the Most 



272 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

High — that religion which is of the heart, and not 
of this church or that, or this tenet or that, or 
this jealousy or that unchristian pride — shines 
forth like a beacon in a very dark hour. And 
while we do not unite with those who. deride the 
weak-hearted, who deserted their post, we say all 
honor to those who, through pestilence and famine,' 
sickness and death, and infection and the horrors 
of the unburied dead, and all the awful scenes and 
soul-harrowing incidents of this unprecedented 
visitation, 'tried to do their duty !' # We have no 
sneer for those who fled ; but for those who, like 
Mr. Finch, walked unterrifled through the awful 
ranks of death, we have honor, and praise, and 
plaudits from the heart." 

And we might, if time would allow, allude in 
merited terms to the benevolent and kind-hearted 
Walter H. Taylor ; the skillful and facetious Ber- 
nard ; the well-known and gentlemanly B. B. 
Walters ; the indomitable Dalrymple ; and a num- 
ber of others; but, as before stated, too much 
space would be required by a suitable notice of 
all the meritorious who fell. 

Messrs. O'Brien and Quick, undertakers, both 

* Among the last words uttered by the deceased were : " I 
tried to do ray duty." 



iiistoky QF THE PBfl ill. I'M IB. 273 

died of the fever. They worked heroically to the 

last. 

Wm. IT. Murphy and I. R. Robertson, at Salus- 
berry's cabinet and furniture establishment, both 
survived. R.'s duty was in the extreme unpleas- 
ant and dangerous, but he stood at his post from 
the beginning to the end, always courteous and 
obliging, laboring night and day among the dead 
and the dying, and, as he says, "working off the 
symptoms of the fever." 

Among those who rendered themselves conspicu- 
ous for faithful services in the trying times of the 
pestilence, John Jones, a mulatto slave, employed 
by Messrs. O'Brien and Quick, in his humble, but 
highly important capacity of hearse-driver, by the 
diligent and faithful performance of his laborious 
duties, won for himself the esteem and regard of 
the entire community. From the commencement 
of the disease, he was actively employed, night and 
day, in driving the hearse with the ill-fated fever 
victims to the cemetery; in many instances hav- 
ing to shoulder the coffins in which were the 
bodies of the dead, place them in his hearse, and 
unload, without any assistance whatever. He had 
a severe attack and survived. 
12* 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

POETICAL. 

DEATH OF A TRTJE HERO SPARE THEM, O GOD ! — THE CRY FROM YA. 

NORFOLK AND PORTSMOUTH DEAD — DEATH AND THE CHURCH 
BELL — THE SCOURGE AND ITS VICTIMS. 

(From the Alexandria Gazette.) 
THE DEATH OF A TRUE HEEO. 

A TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF HUNTER WOODIS, LATE MAYOR 
OF NORFOLK. 

Oh ! why this mournful wailing, 

Amid the city's gloom ? 
Te men with footsteps failing, 

Whom bear ye to the tomb ? 
For manly eyes are weeping, 

That never wept before. 
O'er him, who softly sleeping, 

Shall wake to earth no more. 

Fell he on field of glory, 

Insensible to fear ? 
And shall he live in story — 

A name to freemen dear ? 
Did thousands fall before him, 

When flashed his sword on high, 
That thus ye now deplore him, 

With wild, funereal crv? 



HISTORY OF THE 876 

is no: mill sabres flea! 
Or cannon thundering load ; 
hostile Bqaadrons dashing 
On ranks oi' foemen proud ; 
Twaa nol 'neath banners waving, 

O'er gallant hearts, though few — 
The battle's fury braving — 
That fell our hero true : 

But iu the silent dwelling, 

Where pestilence and woe, 
With tenfold fury telling, 

Laid many a victim low ; 
'Mid weariness and watching, 

'Mid desolation deep, 
The last sad accents catching, 

Where none were by to weep. 

Xo crown of laurel moved him, 

Xo music cheered him on ; 
But deep affliction proved him, 

When every hope was gone. 
Amid the dead and dying, 

Unmoved, he knew no fear, 
But checked the orphan's sighing, 

And dried the widow's tear. 

Then pause, and o'er him, weeping, 

Tour last fond tribute pay, 
While to the cold earth's keeping, 

We give his lifeless clay. 
We lose him not forever, 

For his spirit lives above, 
Where death can enter never, 

In the home of light and love. 



276 HISTOKY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

SPAEE THEM, GOD ! 

BY FANNY FALES. 

"WRITTEN AT PLYMOUTH, MASS., DURING THE PREVALENCE OF THE 

YELLOW FEYER IN NORFOLK AND PORTSMOUTH. 

Thy children, with clasped hands, O God, look up, 

Pleading with tears, thy smiting hand to stay ; 
Take wholly from their lips the fearful cup. 
Hear us, God, we pray ! 

Coffins lie piled at corners of the streets; 

The dead-cart rumbles on its gloomy way ; 
The bravest heart with pallid terror beats ; 
Spare them, God, we pray ! 

Touched by the yellow demon, maid and sire, 

Mother and babe, with white lips closed for aye, 
Sleep side by side — the pestilence is dire — 
Spare them, God, we pray ! 

Angels of pity, o'er the suffering bend, 

And yet, alone, some gasp their lives away 
Dreaming of cooling waters none extend — 
Spare them, God, we pray ! 

Pale orphans shudder by the hearth-stone dark ; 

Gather in tearful groups, from day to day, 
Where all is strange, on this wild storm the Ark, 
Spare them, God, we pray ! 

In Death's black shadow the doomed cities lie ; 

Night with no star — night with no silver ray ; 
Thou who art enwrapped in awful mystery, 

Spare, for Christ's sake, we pray ! 

Sprinkle tne lintels of each door, Most High, 
That Death may turn his muffled feet away ,* 

Seeing thy token — mightily we cry — 
Hear, for Christ's sake, we pray J 



B0TOR1 OF PHE PES! U i.v B, 277 

(From the Boston Conrier.) 

Till! UiY PROM VIRGINIA. 

V i Km ma's ocean shore Benda forth 

A cry of wailing sorrow ; 
To-day btri gluts the greedy earth, 

To crave the more to-morrow. 
When lmth siu-h woo unheeded been? 

Joy not our full hearts ever, 
To pour the wealth of oil ami wine 

O'er wounds that Weed and quiver? 

Let trait'rous miscreants stand aloof, 

The sister States who'd sever ;* 
Our outstretched hands to them are proof 

"We'll heed their vile arts never ! 
In party strife we sometimes rave, 

And choose our words but blindly ; 
The touchstone of our faith we have, 

In deeds that speak more kindly. 

Our noblest son no party knew ; 

Pure patriot and statesman ! 
" No North — no South," the words were few — 

Kesistless as the ocean. 
There are, who breathe his spirit yet, 

Whose watchword is the " Union ;" 
Who feel that words of love beget 

Kind acts in rich profusion. 

Virginia ! once a gallant band, 

We braved the foe together ; 
Close now as then we clasp thy hand, 

The storm of grief to weather. 
Pulse beats to pulse, as with one heart, 

Our great Exemplar heeding, 
We pant to act a God-like part, 

All common love exceeding. 



278 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

(From the New York Sun. ) 

THE NORFOLK AND PORTSMOUTH DEAD. 

Peace in our palaces has been, 
And health within our gates been seen ; 
But waitings on the southern winds 
Have touched our hearts, and led our minds 
To sympathize with those who knew 
The " pestilence" and the " arrow" too. 

Norfolk and Portsmouth ! cities doom'd ! 
Your streets were still'd, your people tomb'd ! 
For the death angel rode the blast, 
And broke his vials as he pass'd. 

Scourge of the tropics! backward turn 
To where fierce Cancer's summers burn. 
Can'st thou not in thy proper place 
Find victims for thy dread embrace, 
To satisfy thy hunger fell, 
But northward roam to wake the knell ? 

How blest the sons of mercy ! they 
Who sought thine awful course to stay, 
And periled life and its delights, 
Through lonely days and fearful nights, 
To nurse thy victims, smitten low ; — 
And fair and gentle woman, too, 
E'en braved thy foul, polluting breath, 
To dress and smooth the bed of death. 

Thou'rt gone, thank God ! but yet we see 
A tablet to thy memory, 
In many hearts by anguish torn, 
And orphans unto sorrow born. 



history OP THE M BTILEN< 879 

DEATH AND THE CHURCH BELL. 

by u . a. i . 

THI b] 3 Of the old bell of Christ Church were 

distinctly heard in every part <>t' the town, and tor miles around. 
The measured notes sounded Btrangely and Badly, and fell upon the 
ear like the melancholy toll of a funeral knell — another evidence "I' 
the w i that was going on. The son^ of the Btevedore was 

hushed ; the tools of the artisan lay unused ami rusting upon the work- 
bench ; the roar and clank vi' machinery were not heard; hut the 
familiar found of the old clock waked the Bleeping echoes in every 
Street and lane, in every deserted hall, in every vacant house, while 
Death ruthlessly swept his scythe into tho ranks of tho remaining 
citizens. 

Death held his cruel, frightful sway, 

In that dread time of woe, 
And fearfully, by night and day, 

He laid his victims low. 

The doors were closed, the merchants gone, 

Or sick, or lying dead, 
"While nurse and doctor hurried on 

To the stiff' rer's dying bed. 

And on the streets and river side 

Had ceased the city's din ; 
The grave-yard gates were open wide, 

And the dead were crowded in. 

And still thy voice, " old belfry bell," 

Bang out both sad and drear, 
Like the tolling of a funeral knell, 

To the lonely mourner's ear. 

But soon the church was vacant, too ; 
For the pastor lingering lay, 
q And the sexton ceased his work to do — 

The sexton old and gray. 



280 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

Thy tongue, at last, was still, old bell, 
But the pond'rous chain was wound, 

And the hammer of the old clock fell, 
And still kept up the sound. 

In every Vacant thoroughfare — 

The river's surface o'er, 
The echoes floated in the air 

And reached the southern shore. 

And dolefully and solemnly, 
In measured notes and slow, 

Thy voice still wakes the memory 
To the fearful time of woe. 



THE SCOURGE AND ITS VICTIMS. 

BY W. S. F. 

The tropic scourge walked forth in pow'r, 

To quench the vital flame ; 
In the darkness of the midnight hour, 

In the light of day it came. 

The summer breeze was charged with death, 

And saint and sinner fell 
Alike before its venom'd breath — 

Their doom the Book can tell. 

Affection's tears, the doctor's skill, 
The scourge disdained to heed ; 

The cup of sorrow Death would fill, 
Tho' a thousand hearts must bleed. 

Youth's blushing cheek soon lost its hue, 

The brightest eye grew dim ; 
The strength of manhood yielded, too, 

To the monster stem and grim. 



UlsroKV OP THE PE8TTLENI r. 281 

He erush'd the old, the young, the gay, 

The beautiful, the fair ; 
The tender babe a victim lay, 

All sallow, dark, and sear. 

A grave-like gloom around 

A silence t<> be feared! 
Unless the pale physician passed, 

Or the wail of woe was heard. 

The orphan's cry, the widow's BCream, 
Bang out by night and day — 

That time of terror seemed a dream. 
When the plague had ceased ii- .-way. 

Twas then the Christian's faith was tried, 

Its pow'r to save and shield; 
True faith in Christ, the Crucified, 

The death-test then revealed. 

"I'll ne'er desert my post, and fly !" 

A faithful " watchman" cried ; 
Nor feared the hero thus to die, 

And thus, brave Dibrell died. 

And so did Jones and Eskridge fall, 

In the hottest of the fight ; 
And Jackson, Chisholm, Bagnall, all — 

They scorned the thought of flight ! 

" Rejoicing, yes, and praising there," 

A dying mother said, 
Whose three fond daughters, young aud fair, 

AVere sleeping with the dead. 

" We're both prepared," a meek one cried, 

AVhose dear companion lay, 
All faint and gasping, at her side, 

And soon to pass a way. 



282 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

" For this I long ago prepared," 

A man of God replied ; 
That day his blood-bought spirit shared 

The joy of the glorified. 

" 'Tis blissful thus to pass away," 

A pious son averred ; 
And soon, both son and mother lay 

Among the dead interred. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

C«>XT\ 3 AND PORTABILITY OP THE FELLOW rr.YF.R — 

ITS ORIGIN — TYPE — PREVENTION — CAUSE— EPIDEMICS A r NIGHT 
— THE FEVER SUPPOSED BY SOME n> BE MIGRATORY. 

" Contagiousness and portability of yellow 
fever. — This is a knotty point, and I can here do 
no more than express my conclusions. Under the 
term contagion are compounded two distinct ques- 
tions, viz. : Contagiousness proper, or the com- 
munication directly of yellow fever from one 
human subject to another ; and, secondly, the 
portability of the cause or germ by vessels from 
one port to another. Although my mind leans at 
present towards a belief in the contagiousness of 
this disease in certain instances, I still doubt, and my 
judgment is in suspense ; but with regard to its 
portability by vessels from place to place and by 
rail-roads, I do not see how any human being fami- 
liar with its history can doubt, and I should advise 
our Northern friends to quarantine rigidly against 
it. The disease has gone to every point 

WITHIN A CERTAIN DISTANCE OF THE GULF WHICH 



284 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

WAS FREQUENTED BY STEAMBOATS AND RAIL-ROAD 

cars, and I believe would have entered New York 
in 1853 had it not been stopped at the quaran 
tine. 

" Its origin. — Whether this epidemic was 
really imported from Africa or not, is a point 
which cannot be settled from any data yet made 
public, and I shall not offer you any speculation 
on it. One fact, however, is certain : that this 
disease has traveled steadily on, since its first ap- 
pearance in Rio Janeiro five years ago, along the 
Caribbean Gulf and Atlantic coasts, until it has at 
last reached Norfolk. No mortal of our day is 
endowed with the spirit of prophecy ; but still we 
can often, from the lights of history and observa- 
tion, predict, with tolerable certainty, coming 
events ; and it was on such data that I ventured 
to foretell that yellow fever would go as far. as 
Norfolk, which is about the boundary of the yel- 
low fever latitude, and also suggested the strong 
probability that it would visit our Northern cities, 
where it does occur at long intervals. Now, the 
grounds upon which I made these predictions were 
as follows : — Yellow fever has at long intervals, 
not only in the Mediterranean, along the Spanish 
and French coasts, but in the United States (about 



fifty years ago), taken on this traveling character. 

it the time alluded to, yellow fever extended 

from Southern pons to Norfolk, and thence to 

Winchester, in the interior; to Philadelphia, to 

New York, and thence to Catskill, on the North 
river, and to Hartford and Middleton. The 
epidemic in question had steadily progressed, for 

three years, from Rio to Mobile, and on to Key 
West ; and with all these facts before me I did not 

hazard much in predicting that its progress was 
onward in the direction it had been traveling. 

" Type of the disease. — Few men in the 
United States have seen more of yellow fever than 
I have, and I have no hesitation in saying that 
this is substantially the same disease as the yellow 
fever which occurred in' Philadelphia in 1793, and 
which has appeared from time to time since. It 
is the fact with typhoid fever, cholera, plague, scar- 
let fever, smallpox, and all epidemic diseases, that 
they appear in different grades of violence at differ- 
ent times, and occasionally have a greater tendency 
to travel over a large extent of country. This has 
been the case with the yellow fever in question ; 
but its mode of attack, its course of symptoms, in- 
cluding yellow skin and black vomit, its average 
duration, etc., are the same as other yellow fevers, 



286 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

and, though it may have been somewhat more 
virulent, it is still the same." — Dr. Nott, of Mobile. 

Prevention of Fever. Dr. Wood, an 

eminent physician of Philadelphia, says that the 
prevention of the disease is more important than 
its treatment. He states that persons who fre- 
quent places where the disease prevails, " should 
sleep preferably in the highest part of the house ; 
should avoid the night air ; should abstain from 
fatiguing exercises, exposure to alterations of tem- 
perature, and excesses of all kinds ; should endea- 
vor to maintain a cheerful and confident temper ; 
should use a nutritious and wholesome but not 
stimulating diet ; and if compelled to enter any 
spot in which the atmosphere is known to be. in- 
fected, should take care not to do so when the 
stomach is empty, or the body exhausted by per- 
spiration or fatigue. Attempts to guard against 
the disease by low diet, bleeding, and purging, or 
the use of mercury, are futile, and even worse than 
futile. The feebler the system, the less it is able 
to resist the entrance of the poison, or its influence 
when absorbed." 

" In the great plague of London," says another 
writer, "four thousand perished in one night. At 
Hamburg, during the cholera, stoves and open fires 



BX8T0RY OF PHB 

were kepi burning through the night, and %i s 
Leone the Datives have a practice, in the sickly 
season, of keeping fires constantly burning in 

their huts at night; not that they have been 
prompted to do so by the aid of chemistry; but 
they assert that the fires keep away the evil spir- 
its ro which they attribu and ague. It is 
said that, latterly, Europeans have" begun to adopt 
the same practice, and those who have tried it 
assert that they have entire immunity from the 
tropical fevers to which they were formerly sub- 
ject." 

" As there is much speculation with regard to 
yellow fever, and as much has been said, and 
much more will be said, we may venture to state 
the cause and its remedies. The cause of yellow, 
broken bone, bilious, intermittent, and the con- 
gestive fevers, are nearly akin, only of different 
types, and brought about by the same general 
cause. Fevers in general are caused by conges- 
tion, or stoppage of the various secretions of the 
human system. When the vessels, absorbents, 
capillary, or lymphatic, become filled with foreign 
matter, the healthy organization cannot be carried 
on in the human physical system. A congestion 
of the liver will derange the whole economy of the 



288 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

system^ and produce a similar effect upon the other 
organs, which will be shown in a natural chemical 
action, termed fever. The different types depend 
upon the amount of the absorbent of foreign mat- 
ter the system has taken up. It may be that all 
vegetable life is connected with animal life, as 
when vegetables are decomposed in water it will 
yield a large amount of animalcula. It may be that 
the yellow fever originates from the reception of 
animalcules into the human system, and the vari- 
ous secretions are stopped, or rather clogged, by 
this foreign matter ; after which an action takes 
place of a chemical character — an action upon the 
part of the system to throw off the foreign matter ; 
and this is styled the fever, from the heat and 
frequent beating of the pulse. When vegetable 
matter is put into water, such as roses in bloom, 
or lilies, or any other flowers, it produces, in 
twelve to twenty-four hours, in the summer sea- 
son, animalcules, as will be seen by a microscope 
of 2500 to 5000 diameter. These animalcules can 
be taken into the system in three ways : by chang- 
ing the venous into arterial blood, by the absorb- 
ent vessels of the skin, and with the food we take 
into the system. 

"A person dying with yellow fever or bilious 



B08TOB1 

fever, and having died in June to November, her- 
metically sealed, in tin or other metal, after 
remaining in the coffin fourteen days, when open 
it will be found to contain millions of larvae 5 but 
if the patient should die in our climate, in Novem- 
ber to March, by examining in fourteen da] 
will he found only to be returning to iis native 
elements; The genu of the existence of 'he ani- 
mal, in the first case, must have been there, and 
brought about by deposition of ova by an animal- 
cule : hence, in the future decomposition of the 
body, the existence of the larvae." — Correspondence 
Baltimore American. 

The J Vest minster Review gives the following sim- 
ple explanation : 

"It is at night that the stream of air nearest 
the ground must always be the most charged with 
the particles of annualized matter given out from 
the skin, and deleterious gases, such as carbonic 
acid gas, the product of respiration, and sul- 
phuretted hydrogen, the product of the sewers. 
In the day, gases and vaporous substances of all 
kinds rise in the air by the rarefaction of heat ; 
at night, when the rarefaction releases them, they 
fall by an increase of gravity, being imperfectly 

mixed with the atmosphere — while the gases 
13 



290 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

evolved during the night, instead of ascending, 
remain at nearly the same level. It is known 
that carbonic acid gas, at a low temperature, par- 
takes so nearly of the nature of a fluid, that it 
may be poured out of one vessel into another; 
it rises at the temperature at which it is exhaled 
from the lungs, but its tendency is towards the 
floor, or the bed of the sleeper, in cold and unven- 
tilated rooms. 

" In the epidemics of the middle ages, fires were 
lighted in the streets for the purification of the 
air ; and more recently, trains of gunpowder have 
been fired and cannon discharged for the same 
object ; but these agents, operating against an 
illimitable extent of atmospheric air, have been 
on too small a scale to produce any sensible effect. 
It is, however, pronounced by the best authority 
quite possible to heat a room to produce a rare- 
faction and consequent dilution of any malignant 
gases it may contain ; and it is, of course, the air 
of the room, and that alone, at night, which comes 
into immediate contact with the lungs of a person 
sleeping." 

The Mystery Deepens. — In the fall of 1853, 
a physician, well known in the city, arrived here 
on a visit to his relations, after having passed 



HISTORY OF THE PI 31 L'"| 

safely through the fever that raged bo fearfully in 
Pensacola, in the summer and fall of thai year. 
He had noticed the symptoms of the fatal disi 
assisted in relieving the sick, and had previo 

witnessed its progress, and sludied carefully its 
nature, which he thought identical with that 
which had appeared along the coast of South 
America. 

He remarked, with prophetic certainty, while 
here, that it would make its appearance in Charles- 
ton and Savannah in 1S54, and, as in Pensacola, 
sweep off the people almost by the thousand ; arM 
that it would visit Norfolk and Portsmouth in 
1S-55, and rage with extraordinary malignity and 
severity. He, therefore, advised his friends to re- 
move, and remain absent from the city during the 
summer and fall months. 

His predictions proved, alas, too true in every 
particular; and although his remarks were little 
regarded when uttered, they were of course consid- 
ered as possessing singular interest and force, when 
our citizens were realizing the truth of the strange 
prediction. 

This circumstance favors the theory that the 
disease is migratory, and is slowly moving north- 
ward ; while some are arraying facts to prove it o; 



292 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 



local origin, and others that it was brought by the 
Ben Franklin. 

We may appropriately remind the reader here, 
that Wilmington and other towns in North Caro- 
lina were not visited by the fever. If the disease 
is migratory, the question may be reasonably 
asked : Why it should pass over a space of hun- 
dreds of miles without stopping, and without mani- 
festing itself in any of the towns or villages be- 
tween Norfolk and Savannah ? 



CHAPTEB XXXV. 

GHENSRAL CHARACTER OP THE DISEASE — TREATMENT- 

SYMPTOMS — REMEDIES— LIGHTNING AN J) I 

r 

"Although there were a great Dumber of mild 

attacks that yielded readily to treatment, I think 
the epidemic may be said to be one of the severest 
and most fatal ever witnessed. Black vomit was 
commonly observed in fatal cases, though there 
were numerous recoveries, especially in young per- 
sons, after the appearance of this usually fatal 
symptom. Uterine haemorrhage was exceedingly 
common ; but other haemorrhages were more rare 
than we usually see in New Orleans. 

"Suppression of urine was exceedingly common in 
the latter >tages, and almost invariably a fatal 
symptom. 

"The febrile excitement was generally of a low 
grade for yellow fever, and sanguineous depletion 
was but seldom strongly indicated ; yet I have no 
doubt that many cases would have been benefited 
by the more free use of cups and leeches than was 
practiced. 



294 



HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 



"The pains of the head, back, and limbs were less 
severe, I think, than we commonly observe in New 
Orleans. 

"There was a general tendency in the old, or 
those who had passed the meridian of life, to sink 
after reacting the critical stage, although the symp- 
toms had been mild from the beginning. There 
appeared to be a want of recuperative energy in 
the system, which could not always be acted on by 
stimulants and nourishment in the hour of need. 
Delirium was often observed, and, generally, a bad 
symptom. Yellowness of the eyes and skin com- 
monly appeared at the critical stage, and was most 
intense in severe and fatal cases. 

" I may mention one marked discrepancy between 
the physicians of New Orleans and Charleston. 
The former recommended the treatment to be 
commenced with a hot mustard foot-bath, and a 
dose of castor oil, or some other mild purgative, 
merely to evacuate the intestinal canal, and the 
patient to be covered with a blanket, so as to keep 
up a continued, though not excessive perspiration, 
from the beginning of the attack to the end of the 
critical period, cold applications to the head, and 
local depletion, if indicated by the severity of the 
pain ; whereas the latter pursued a cooling plan 



HZ8IORY ov THE 

of treatment from the beginning: — the bowels bo 
be gently evacuated, but febrile exciter 
to be kept down by the free application of cold 
water over the head and body, and the use of 
light covering; the object being not to keep up a 
sweat", but only a gentle perspiration, or merely a 
soft skin. For severe headache, they recommended 
the free and frequent use of the cold douche. They 
also advised the use of cold drinks throughout. 
Such is the general plan pursued by the physicians 
of Charleston, as far as I learned from my friends, 
Drs. Ravenel and linger, two highly intelligent and 
accomplished physicians; and I must say, it was 
approved by Dr. Wilson, of Havana, a physician of 
extensive experience in this disease. We all, how- 
ever, concurred more fully in recommending mild 
remedies in the second and third stages of the dis- 
ease. 

"I have only mentioned one discrepancy as worthy 
of special notice, because it relates to a general 
plan of managing yellow fever patients. I stated 
to my professional brethren that, whilst almost 
every possible variety of practice was pursued by 
some one or more persons in New Orleans, yet, if 
there was a single point "in which there was a 
greater concurrence amongst the regular and ex- 



296 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

perienced physicians than any other, it was the 
propriety of keeping the patient covered with at 
least one blanket, and sweating freely, though not 
immoderately, throughout the attack. 

"In this epidemic, the physicians of Philadelphia 
and Baltimore, as far as I learned from conversing 
with Drs. Freeman and Morris, pursued a mild 
course of treatment. The same may be said of Dr. 
Reid, of Savannah, and Dr. Miller, of Mobile. Of one 
thing I am pretty sure, which is, that whatever 
practice was pursued, no one, so far as I learned, 
had reason to boast of any extraordinary amount 
of success." — Dr. Fcimer, N. O. ' 

An eminent physician, who has had very exten- 
sive experience in regard to this fatal disease, 
remarked to the writer, that the patient should^be 
very carefully examined, before prescribing for the 
case — his general constitution, the severity, and 
peculiarities of the attack. 

The disease attacks persons differently. Some 
are prostrated at once ; others but slightly affect- 
ed ; while some, who imagine themselves not very 
ill, walk about — and sometimes they are dying 
upon their feet, and they suddenly sink down, and 
die, as if struck by some deadly blow aimed at their 
vitals by an unseen hand. In all cases, prompt 



Ill- ;i i \« B. 

ami judicious action and careful nursing arc very 
requisite, and highly important. 

Captain Jonas P. Lew, late of the Q. 8, trans- 
port ship American, who has had hundreds of c 
of yellow fever under treatment, Bays he never 
know of a case terminating fatally, after observing 
the following directions: — Dissolve in a wineglass 
of water a table-spoonful of common sail, and 
pour the same into a tumbler, adding the juice of 
a whole lemon, and two wine glasses of castor oil. 
The whole to be taken at one doso (by an adult). 
Then, a hot mustard foot-bath, with a handful of 
salt in the water — the patient to be well wrapped 
in the blankets until perspiration takes place live- 
ly. On removal to bed, the feet of the patient to 
be wrapped in a blanket. Afterwards, apply 
mustard plasters to the abdomen, legs, and soles 
of the feet. If the headache is very acute, apply 
mustard plasters to the head and temples. After 
the fever has been broken, take forty grains of qui- 
nine, and forty drops of elixir of vitriol, to a quart 
of water. Dose — wine-glassful three times a day. 
Barley water, lemonade, and ice water, may be 
used in moderation. 

We subjoin a letter from a Savannah physician 

to the Washington Globe, on the treatment of yellow 
13* 



298 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

fever. The course of treatment advised can as- 
suredly do no harm, even if it should not possess 
all the merits claimed for it : 

Savannah, June 14, 1S56. 

Messrs. Editors : — I perceive, by the papers, 
that much apprehension of the yellow fever and 
black vomit is now felt by the citizens of Wash- 
ington, and of the surrounding neighborhoods. As 
it is generally supposed here that you will be visit- 
ed this summer by the fell destroyer, allow me to 
make a few remarks, which may, perhaps, prove 
of some benefit to the people. 

During the fatal visit of the fever to this city in 
the year 1854, on account of the scarcity of medi- 
cal aid, I attended a great number of sick, com- 
posed of men, women, and children ; and I believe 
that I gained much correct information of its first 
approaches, its symptoms, and the treatment best 
calculated to lessen its hold upon the human frame, 
and at the same time afford to the sufferer a chance 
of life. To accomplish this, it is of the utmost 
importance that the mind of the patient should be 
kept quiet, and not frightened. 

I will not describe the vast amount of suffering 
I witnessed, nor the many scenes of horror which 
came under my observation. My motive is simply 



BDTOEY OF 1 HI Pi : n BN< 

to relieve human suffering ; and aa I, with the help 
of God, j 7n/\yN.v ■ in the treatment of thii 

frightful (lis, -isc, 1 think it my duty to impart my 

miteofaoquired knowledge for the benefit of others 

Who may shortly have to encounter this terrible 
visitor. 
I will first describe the symptoms which foretell 

the insidious approaches of the disease. 
First. Symptomatic feelings. 

1. A pain, either in the head, back, or all the 
limbs, similar to a broken bone fever. ' 

2. A general weakness of the system ; the eyes 
and skin of a greenish yellow, eyes sunk, witli 
fever. This is a very bad symptom. 

3. A sick stomach, with light fever, pain in the 
back, head, and limbs. 

4. Chilly sensations, very much like chills and 
fever ; a bad symptom. 

5. A constant pain in the lower part of the bowels. 
This indicates inflammation, and is a very fatal sign. 

These are the prominent symptomatic feelings. 
'Secondly. The appearances of the tongue. 
1. A nearly natural tongue, clean-looking, with 
a slight tinge of a watery blood red, binding the 
tongue all around. I look upon this stage of the 
disease ,'is its mildest form. 



300 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

2. The tongue heavily furred with white, with 
an increase of the " watery blood-red" appearance' 
around it ; patient very restless. 

3. The tongue thickly coated with brown, and 
hard to the touch ; the " watery blood-red" ring 
which encircles it very much inflamed and largely 
increased in size, attended with hot fever, drowsi- 
ness, and great pains in all parts of the bod}^. 

The last I consider the worst stage, and the most 
dangerous period of the yellow fever. Much de- 
pends on the rapid use of proper medicines, assist- 
ed by injections freely given. The sick crave for 
drinks, which, given too often, generally bring on 
the vomito. The patient's life depends, in a great 
measure, oh the close attention of the nurse — a 
good nurse being equal to the best medical aid. 
You will generally find the " symptomatic feel- 
ings" and the "appearance of the tongue" more or 
less blended together. I never mistook the disease 
when I saw the tongue, which I found my best 
guide. 

I have furnished you with the most prominent 
symptoms of the yellow fever which came under 
my observation ; and, with very slight variations, 
every case was treated alike by me. My treatment 
was very simple. My medicines everybody knew, 



Ill - i Ih PES • .".ill 

and were taken with great confidence. The 

of nay efforts arose from quick action on the 
bowels, and the bringing aboul a \ tpiratien 

within sixteen hours: for within thai time the fate 
of the patient was decided. Turn 1 is precious in 
this epidemic, and should not be wasted. 

TREATMENT. 

Take two ounces oi' Epsom salts, half ounce 
of snake root, and a quarter ounce of senna, boil 

them in a pint of water; strain the mixture, and, 
when cold, give to the patient, every fifteen or 
thirty minutes, according to the urgency of the 
case, a large-sized wine-glassful, until tin 1 bowels 
are well operated upon, and the operations entirely 
lose their dark, tarry, greenish appearance, and re- 
gain a healthy, bilious look. To do this is to 
accomplish much for the patient. Also, place the 
feet in nhot mustard foot-bath. Put mustard plas- 
ters on the chest, bowels, arms, and legs. 

During the first and second days, I allowed 
only iced gum-arabic water, and small lumpr of 
ice. The fever generally left my patients in four- 
teen to eighteen hours, very much prostrated in 
bodily strength. Then careful nursing becomes 
valuable. The moment the fever leaves, give, <•• 



302 HISTOTtY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

-r 
two hours, for eight hours, five grains of quinine ; 
the patient to be' kept quiet, in bed, and to be al- 
lowed only gum drinks. 

Second day. — Should there be no fever, give gum 
drinks. 

Third day. — A half tea-cup of salted corn-meal 
gruel every half-hour, and gum drinks, iced. 

Fourth day. — Small quantities of chicken broth. 

Fifth day. — Weak black tea, pilot bread, soft 
fresh eggs, and well-cooked hominy, 

Be extremely careful with the patient for the 
next two weeks. 

I invariably kept my sick five days in bed to 
keep them out of danger, or of doing imprudent 
things. 

I attended upwards of one hundred sick persons 
during the epidemic, and lost but three, who were 
strong, hearty, bilious Irishmen — their very health 
having proved their worst enemy. 

I send you the foregoing statement, in the 
belief that it may prove of some benefit, should 
yoi»r part of the country have the misfortune to be 
visited by Yellow Jack. 

Yours, respectfully, L. N. F. 

N. B. — Rubbing the body, from head to foot, 
with whisky and strong red pepper, I found of 






B3BT0R> OF .in i'i ST1LENCB, 

great effect. 1 used for children, mustard and 
water baths, imnn rsing the 1' 

Mr. Merriam, oi' Brooklyn, wrote to I 
York Herald: "The records of the yellow fever 
at Norfolk and Portsmouth, last year, comp 
with the records of temperature and Lightning, 
show that the mosl appalling mortality by the pest- 
ilence was when the thunder-storms were the i 
active. When Dr. Barton, president of the S 
tary Board of New Orleans, called upon me to ex- 
amine my meteorological record of 1853, for that 
portion of the year in which the yellow fever pre- 
vailed so fearfully in that city, I said to him, 'if 
you will refer to your record for the day in which 
the fever was most fatal, I will refer to my record 
and see what was the state of the atmosphere on 
that day.' He said: 'the 20th of August — on that 
day more than three hundred were numbered with 
the dead.' Our record says, '20th August — great 
thunder-storm at Xew T Orleans, reaching to Mol 
Here the two records met and united in their tes- 
timony. • 

"It is admitted by all who have experience, and 
the opportunity of observation, that the yellow 
fever will not remain for a single day in a frosty 
atmosphere : then, why not. in the commencement 



304 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

of the pestilence, refrigerate the district? I can, 
with pounded ice, and salt mixed, cut down a field 
of vegetation in a single night, by strewing its 
surface with refrigerating mixture. That which 
will destroy vegetation will destroy yellow fever 
poison. 

In reply to this statement, an intelligent gentle- 
man, of Portsmouth, wrote as follows : 

"I was in this place until the 30th of August, 
and am confident that there was not a flash of 
lightning seen, or peal of thunder heard, during 
that month, and very little during July, June, and 
May. The most fatal day in August was the 25th, 
when the wind changed from S. W. to E. X. E., 
and continued in that quarter about five days, the 
barometer being unusually low. On the 2Sth, 
there was a cool, drizzling rain, but no thunder. 
It is well known that where the cholera has ap- 
peared, the electrical tension of the atmosphere 
has been lower than usual, and from good authori- 
ty I assert that the disease has disappeared where 
the electricity of the air has been restored to its 
ordinary condition." 

Without entering into the controversy, we will 
just state, for the information of those interested 
in the matter, that the latter statement is some- 



ma 800 

what incorrect, and the writer is mistaken with 
rd to lightning in August and other months. 
This location was visited on Priday, L7th August, 
L865, with a very severe and exciting electric 
play. There were some brilliant Bashes of light- 
r, and the peala oi' thunder were very loud and 
ing. A large and handsome building at the 
unds, not half a mile from the city, was 
struck by the fluid, and with it another structure 
took fire and was consumed. On the 31st of July, 
there was one of the most terrific thunder-storms 
at Hampton and Old Point over witnessed, and 
extending thence a considerable distance south, in 
the direction of this city, though spending its vio- 
lence and fury before reaching our immediate lo- 
cality. Vessels in the Roads were struck by the 
lightning, and one or two persons killed. There 
were, also, thunder-storms in Norfolk and vicinity 
on the 10th and 12th of September. 

There was no remarkable increase in the fl 
cases, or deaths, when the storms occurred. The 
number of deaths, however, gradually increased in 
Norfolk from about the middle of August till the 
first of September; from which time there was, 
as before shown, a diminution till the disease left 
the place. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE YELLOW FEVER IN XEW YORK THE-FEYER IN PHILADELPHIA. 

Since its foundation, the yellow fever has ap- 
peared in New York no less than ten times. Its 
first visitation was in the summer of 1702. The 
mortality was dreadful ; and almost every one who 
was seized with the fever died. The period was 
distinguished as the " time of the great sickness." 
It appeared a second and third time in the sum- 
mer and autumn of 1741 and 1742. An interest- 
ing account of the disease was drawn up at the 
time by Dr. Colden, an eminent physician, who 
pointed out the local circumstances which existed 
in different parts of the city, as evident causes of 
adding to the violence of the distemper, and recom- 
mended means for their removal, and measures for 
the general health, which were adopted, and fol- 
lowed by the most salutary effects. 

In 1791, the fever again broke out in the vicini- 
ty of Burling Slip, where it was probably intro- 
duced by vessels from the West Indies. In 1793, 



, OP THE 

Philadelphia Buffered terribly frCm the yellovi 
ver — 1,041 persona having died in that city from 
the commencement fco the termination of the 

The Now Yorkers being greatly alarmed, ;i 
proclamation was issued prohibiting the fugi 
from Philadelphia to land in New York till , 
an absence from Philadelphia of a certain number 

of days. The prohibition could not be enforced. 
Many of the Philadelphians entered New York. 

some of them sickened and died there; bu; 
city remained fully as healthy as usual during the 
whole season. 

In 1798, the fever again appeared in New York, 
carrying off 2.0S6, out of a population of 5-5,000, 
more than one-third of'whom had left the city. It 
appeared again, though not in so malignant a 
form, in 1799, 1S00, 1S03, 1S05, and 1S22, which 
was its last visitation. In 1S01, the disease ap- 
peared in Brooklyn, between which and New Y'ork 
there is only the East River, about three-quai 
of a mile in width. Several of the inhabitants of 
Brooklyn fled to New York, and died in the houses 
of their friends ; but the New York Board of 
Health knew of no instance in which it proved 
contagious. The city remained exempt from pesti- 
lence during that season. 



308 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

In the disease of 1805, one-third of the whole 
population fled ; and in the first four wards, two- 
thirds of the inhabitants fled. In the eighth and 
ninth wards the citizens remained, pursuing their 
usual avocations, well knowing, from the purity 
of the air, that they were as safe from danger of 
the pestilence, which prevailed in the other wards, 
by following their business at home, as if they had 
resided in the Western wilderness. 

An account of the prevalence of the yellow 
fever in Philadelphia, in 1793, was written and 
published by M. Cary. We make a brief extract. 

After describing the symptoms of the disease, 
viz. : the chill, fever, prostration, yellow tinge, 
black vomit, haemorrhages, etc., precisely as mani- 
fested in the disease in Norfolk (by which descrip- 
tion our idea as to the identity of the disease is 
confirmed), the writer goes on to say : 

" The first death that was a subject of general 
conversation, was that of Peter Aston, on the 19th 
of August, after a few days' illness. Mrs. Lemai- 
gre's, on the day following, and Thomas Miller's, 
on the 25th, with those of some others, after a short 
sickness, spread an universal terror. 

" The removals from Philadelphia began about 
the 25th, or 26th of this month : and so great was 



HE 

the general terror, that, for Borne weel 

■us, coa< ml chaises, were al 

constantly transporting families and furniture i<> 
the country, in every direction. .Many people Bhut 
up their houses wholly ; others (eft servants to take 
care o( them. Business became extremely dull. 
Mechanics and artists were unemployed; and the 
streets wore the appearance of gloom and melan- 
choly. 

"The consternation -of the people of Philadel- 
phia, at this period, was carried beyond ail bounds. 
Dismay and affright were visible in almost every 
person's countenance. Most of those who could, 
by any means, make it convenient, fled from the 
city. Of those who remained, many shut them- 
selves up in their houses, being afraid to w T alk the 
streets. The smoke of tobacco being regarded as 
a preventive, many persons, even women and small 
boys, had cigars almost constantly in their mouths. 
Others, placing full confidence in garlic, chewed 
it almost the w 7 hole day ; some kept it in their 
pockets and shoes. Many were afraid to allow the 
barbers or hair-dressers to come near them, as 
instances had occurred of some of them having 
shaved the dead, and many having engaged as 
bleeders. Some, who carried their caution pretty 



310 HISTOKY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

far, bought lancets for themselves, not daring to 
allow themselves to be bled with the lancets of the 
bleeders. 

"Many houses were scarcely a moment in the 
day free from the smell of gunpowder, burned 
tobacco, nitre, sprinkled vinegar, etc. Some of 
the churches were almost deserted, and others 
wholly closed. The coffee-houses were shut up, 
as was the city library, and most of the public 
offices — three, out of the four, daily papers were 
discontinued, as were some of the others. Many 
devoted no small portion of their time to purify- 
ing, scouring, and whitewashing their rooms. 
Those who ventured abroad had handkerchiefs or 
sponges, impregnated with vinegar or camphor, at 
their noses, or smelling-bottles full of thieves' 
vinegar. Others carried pieces of tarred rope in 
their hands or pockets, or camphor-bags tied round 
their necks. 

" The corpses of the most respectable citizens, 
even of those who had not died of the epidemic, 
were carried to the grave on the shafts of a chair, 
the horse driven by a negro, unattended by a friend 
or relation, and without any sort of ceremony. 
People, uniformly and hastily, shifted their course 
at the sight of a hearse coming towards them. 



HI 811 

Many never walked on the foot-path, but weai 

into tlu i middle of bh s, to avoid being in- 

fected in passing houses wherein people had died. 
Acquaintances and friends avoided each other in 

the streets, and only signified their regard 
cold nod. The old custom of shaking hands tell 
into such - .1 disuse that many shrunk back 

with affright at even the offer of the hand." 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



THE MONUMENT ABLE REPORT. 



A popular movement having been made, and 
measures having been taken, with regard to a 
suitable and lasting commemoration of the virtues 
and efficient services of the heroes who nobly fell 
at their posts, during the late terrible visitation, 
the wishes of the people will, no doubt, be carried 
out by the erection of a handsome monument, in a 
suitable location. 

At a meeting of the citizens of Norfolk, held $t 
Ashland Hall, on Thursday, the 15th of May, 
according to previous adjournment, to take into 
consideration suitable measures to commemorate 
the names of the illustrious dead who fell at their 
posts, during the pestilence of the past summer, 

Major George Blow in the chair, and William 
Lamb, Secretary, 

The Chairman of the Committee, appointed 
for the purpose, Charles A. Santos, Esq., presented 
and read the following able report : 

" Mr. Chairman : — In the performance of our 



Ill . 

commission, « to report a bui table mode oi • 
morating the virtuefl and services of those who 

1 their lives in the cause of humanity, 
during the late terrible epidemic,' words are ii 

slings of intense inti 
which have actuated your Committee, and the 
unanimity with which they recommend ti 
lofty and time-enduring monument should be 
.in evidence of the gratitude which 
they and every member of our community feel for 
the self-sacrificing devotion of the noble souls who 
laid down their lives for us. 

"Our city is now gay and populous, and all 
outward traces of the late sad visitation are re- 
moved ; but if the mind is permitted to dwell upon 
the terrific days of August and September, and to 
learn from an eye-witness the heart-rending details 
of the pestilence, we conceive that the most indif- 
ferent would be excited to the keenest sympathy, 
and the most intense anxiety to indicate his appre- 
ciation of the marl 

"As the first civil officer, tin; noble, high-toned 
Hunter Woodis should stand first upon our pro- 
posed Monument. Those who witnessed his untir- 
ing zeal at the commencement of the fever, and 

his subsequent incessant toil in relieving the sick, 

1 1 



314 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

burying the dead, and carrying out sanitary regu- 
lations, will rejoice in seeing his name and noble 
deeds handed down to posterity. 

" In the language of the 'just and eloquent tri- 
bute,' paid him by the Rev. Mr. Hitselberger, who, 
by reason of the triple relationship of i spiritual 
father, guide, and friend, knew him so well :' 

" ' He thought of others, not of himself. Like the 
soldier of the forlorn hope, who marched to the 
mined breach, he rushed to the van of havoc, to 
tight for the common good ; and like him he offered 
up his life, with all the honors and endearments of 
that life, a sublime sacrifice to the cause of huma- 
nity and official duty. Smitten by the hand of the 
destroyer, in the exercise of the noblest charities 
of our nature, in the very act of administering to 
the dying and the dead, the chivalrous Woodis, un- 
appalled by danger, and unwearied in beneficence, 
was ravished away, in the flower of his age and the 
vigor of his usefulness ; honored, loved, bewailed 
in the purity of that affection which virtue inspires, 
with the intensity of that grief which only true 
hearts can feel.' 

" The name of William B. Ferguson, the active, 
zealous and indefatigable President of the Howard 
Association, who, actuated by the inherent bene- 



HXBTOBY OP iHi 

volence of his heart, labored bo assiduously and 
effectually to alleviate* die ould occupy the 

next position. 

11 Fn the words of the resolution adopted tfl our 
g meeting, - he forgot himself in h b desire 
there, and he has left in our affectio 
imperishable monument of die ed usefulness 

and true courage. 1 We are sure that we Bpeak 
the sentiments of our fellow-citizens, when w( 
that we feel it especially a sacred duty to 
petuate his memory. He, sir, was not connected 
with ns by the ties of birth, which bound our la- 
mented Woodis, and our obligations are, then 
greatly enhanced. But a few years have el. 
since he came a stranger among us, and the devotion 
which he displayed for his adopted city during her 
prosperity was only increased with her advert 

" The magnanimity of his soul was revealed at the 
beginning of our late affliction, in being among the 
first to establish the Howard Association. Called 
unanimously to preside over this noble band, he 
threw his whole energy, zeal, and industry into the 
work, and but for the aid afforded by its organized 

•m of supplying food, medicines, and nui 
hundreds, who now live, would he in the cold and 
Bhunned yellow-. 



316 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

" The names of our clergy who, actuated by the 
noblest and highest sense of duty, remained in, our 
plague-stricken city to point many a wretched 
sufferer to the Lamb of God, and who sealed their 
faith with their lives, shall be deeply engraven 
upon the handsome shaft we intend toerect. The 
friends, kinsmen, and admirers -of the Rev. "Wm. 
M. Jackson, Anthony Dibrell, Stephen Jones, and 
Wm. C. Bagnall, will experience a melancholy 
pleasure in seeing their memory thus perpetuated. 

" The heroism displayed by our resident Medical 
Faculty — the sagacious Silvester, the calm and 
scientific Henry Selden, the bold and able Higgins, 
the frank and indefatigable Upshur, the estimable 
and pure-minded Nash, the quiet but brave and 
efficient Halson, the unobtrusive but reliable Con- 
stable, the assiduous and talented Tunstall, and 
the youthful and manly Briggs, and the magnani- 
mous and self-sacrificing volunteers, Doctors Blow, 
Gebhard, Gooch, Walker, Thompson, Craycroft, 
Fleiss, Booth, Howe, McDowell, Kierson, Smith, 
Jackson, DeBerche, Schell, Obermiiller, Dillard, 
Berry, Capri, and others — should also be com- 
memorated. 

" If it were possible to elevate the character and 
standard of the noble profession of medicine, it 



m 817 

would be done l<; . ;i ,i,i 

eel indifference to danger displayed i>\ 
intrepid corps, in th< duty in the 

ilence. Time and language would fail, were 
to attempt to mention in detail the aid they 
ded, to describe the distress they alleviated, 
and the Bcenes of horror in which they daily 

d. 

"The namesof Robert S. Bernard, John S. Lo 
Thos. Handy, F. Schleisinger, E. Perry Miller, 

M. Cannon, and others, who, prompted solely by 
duty, remained at their posts, and performed the 

arduous duty of dispensing medicine, should be 
deeply engraven upon our proposed monument. 

Exhausted by superhuman exertions, and by daily 
and nightly toil, in the exercise of their responsible 
and important profession, death found them an 
easy prey. 

"The members of the Howard Association, who 
so heroically toiled and finally yielded up their 
for us, should have a conspicuous position 
upon our elevated Italian obelisk. It' we recolleftt 
the terror existing at the time, the harsh quaran- 
tines established by our neighbors, and the malig- 
nant character of the fever, we may have stum- idea 
of the stern courage required to become ;i member 



318 HISTORY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

of this Association. In the eloquent language of 
the able report of the Philadelphia Relief Commit- 
tee : ' if there was heroic courasre shown in storm- 
ing the Malakoff, and in the attempt on the Redan, 
it required yet more to minister to the sick and 
dying in the plague-stricken cities of Norfolk and 
Portsmouth.' 

" Finally, let the memory of all nurses, public 
officers, and others, who lost their lives in obedi- 
ence to the calls of humanity or promptings of 
duty, be perpetuated. Let our children gaze 
upon their names, coupled with deeds requiring 
more courage than the mightiest on the battle- 
field, and learn our gratitude for and appreciation 
of them. 

" Actuated by a desire to carry out the noble 
design of honoring the memory of those heroic 
spirits, your Committee, immediately after their 
appointment, addressed themselves to the work, 
and proceeded to procure from the principal 
monument-builders in the country a number of 
dtsigns and plans. 

" In answer to their communications, a great 
variety, embracing every style, were submitted, 
and received a careful examination. 

"Conceding elaboration of style 'to majestic 



prop they ha> 

Baird, ol Philadel 
mitted, and they trust it will be 
■11. 

Monument will I 
thousand dollars and 

that on the part of Mr, I 

as others who have \ 

sidei. nutation to be acquired by build- 

ing so larg ■ and important a monumi 

ridered <A' more consequence than any p 

" From well-derived information, 

mend that the monument be built of Italian mar- 
ble, as possessing greater beauty and <i 
than American, with very little, if any, ad. 
of cost, in the large blocks r for the plan 

adopted. 

" The dimensions of the respective par, 
follow : The stone which will I 
foundation will be tm 
thick. The first base will be of bl 
marble, and ten 

.. The second 
feet four incl are, and i 

high. The die and butti 



320 HISTOKY OF THE PESTILENCE. 

square, and four feet six inches high, and will be 
of sufficient size for three hundred names. The 
base of obelisk with brackets, three feet nine 
inches square ; and on the four sides of this mas- 
sive block of marble will be carvings of a bust of 
Hunter Woodis ; Hygeia, emblematic of the sci- 
ence of Medicine ; Charity ; the Good Samaritan, 
or any other deemed more appropriate. The base 
of the shaft will be two feet eight inches square, 
and one foot ten inches at top. The shaft will be 
twenty feet high, ornamented with wreaths repre- 
senting the tobacco leaf, the oak, the ivy, and the 
laurel, and surmounted by a gracefully draped urn. 
The work to be executed in the best style of art. 
The whole height of the monument will be forty 
feet, and will contain fifty-six tons of marble, or 
about 575 cubic feet. 

" The location of the monument next occupied 
the attention of your Committee ; and after due 
deliberation, and care, and industry, in ascertain- 
ing the sense of the community* they recommend 
that it be placed ' in the Court Green. In this 
opinion they were confirmed by the sentiments 
expressed by the committee of physicians ap- 
pointed to confer with them. The daily view of 
the magnificent structure will ever keep alive the 



III.- 

recollection of the nobility of iouI developed in 

our midst, and the d ' by 

ogers, who rushed to our aid, i 
v one of the mosl fearful calamities that 
the world has ever witnessed." 



IXDKX 



A daughter's devotion, 191. 

A fair sufferer. 201 . 
Aid from abroad, 5. 
Alarm. 126. 
A luckless trio. 10."). 

rican Beacon, 26 1. 
An aged victim. It 7. 
Andrews, Miss A. M.. 53. 
A night in the pestilence. 60, 
108. 

Baltimore, 176, 2 
Barry's Row. 25, 46. 
Bagnall,Eev.W.C.,229. 

Barron. Mrs., 264. 
Bay line steamers. 1 77. 
Baylor, Mrs. 0., 259. 
Beale, C. H., 268. 
Bernard. R. S., 272. 317. ■ 
Bill, the cake bov. 197. 
Black vomit. 7. 30. 166. 
Blow, Dr. Richard, 256. 
Bourk, Miss L., 69. 
Bovd, Captain, 173. 
Brown, Wm. 

. .!.. 245. 
.ion. T. <;.. 
Burroughs. John J.. 51. 
Burials, 4, 102, 104. 
Burying in pits, 106. 

Callousness, 164. 

Capri, Dr., 1G0. 

Cause of yellow fever, 287. 



Charab i 

65. 

Churl.-. B. 
Churches, 105. L25. 
Chisholm, B 225. 

Clack. P. 11.. 1 . 



Clergy 



lo5. 121. 219, 



316. 
Clergyman's Bon, 1 '.' 1. 

('lima! 

.1. L62. 
Colored people, L03. 

Commencement and pi 

Condition of the city, 91 . 

Bible, Dr. I 
Contagi yellow 

lever. 283. 
Correspondence, loi . 

Crayerol't. Dr.. 161. 
Cunningham. Wi 

Daily pap 
Dalrymple, K.. 272, 

Death of a true 

Death, and the church bell, 

27'.'. 
Death in a thunderstorm, 1 90. 
Death <>[' a pi | man. 

Death ; 

alliance. 191, 
D.Iany. Wm. I>. 
Descrip 



324 



INDEX. 



Desolation. GO. 

Devlin. Eev. F., 154, 228. 

Different theories about the 

disease. 62. 91. 
Dibrell, Eev. A., 222. 
Dosrgett, Dr., description by, 

92. 
Donations from abroad. 56, 

65. 

Eskridge, Eev. V., 230. 

Families broken up, 3. 
Families swept away, 155. 
Female victims, 125, 
Ferguson, Wm. B., Ill, 215, 

314. 
Fever in Philadelphia. 308. 
Fever subsiding, 135, 143, 

152. 
Finch, James H., 150, 2G9. 
Fire bells, -198. 
Fires in epidemics, 290. 
First week in September, 30. 
First eases, 7. 25, 26. 
Fiske, D. 1)., 79L 
Flight of the citizens, 2, 40, 

123. 
Frigate Columbia, 24 

Gait. Alexander, 111. 
Gas-lights, 138, 199. 
Gatewood, Richard, jr., 265. 
Girard, Stephen, in the yellow 

fever, 44. 
Gooch, Dr. P. C, 253. 
Grave-digger, 117, 163. 
Grave-yards, 156. 

liaison, Dr. George I.. 243. 
Handy, Eev. Mr., 219. 
Hartt. Mr., naval constructor, 

69. 
Healthfulness of Norfolk and 

Portsmouth. 8, 28. 



Herron. Miss A. P. B., 262. 
Higgins, Dr. F. L., 234. 
Halliday, J. G., 66. 
Howard Association. 4, 6, 55, 

58, 184, 317. 
Hume, Eev. Thomas, 159. 

Incidents of the pestilence, 61, 

81, 187. 
Infant sufferer, 193. 

Jack-son. Eev. Wm. M., 106, 

220. 
Jones, Eev. Wm., 230. 
Jones, John, the hearse-driver, 

273. 
Julapi hospital, 58. 

Leonard, A. F., 203. 

Letter from the Acting Mayor, 

76, 167. 
Lightning and epidemics, 303, 
Lovett, John S., 317. 
Luckless trio, a, 195. 
Luther, Martin, in the plague, 

43. 

Matthews County, 51. 
McKeever, Commodore, 73. 
McDonald, Mr., 66. 
Market, 59. 
Misstatements, 8. 
Mistakes in burying the dead, 

107. 
Monument, 313. 
Mortality, 129. 
Mourning, 82, 134. 
Music in the Pestilence, 200. 
Myers, Henry, 255. 

Nash, Dr. T., 245. 
Non-intercourse, 48. 
Northampton County, 49- 
Norfolk before the fever, 208. 
Nurses, 137, 175. 

O'Brien and Quick, 272. 









Orphai \ 
Orphans, L20, 184,1 

17,18. 
Philadelphia, I 
Philadelphia fand. 72, L61, 

L82. 
Physicians 

London, '2. 2 
ability of the yellow 
IV v 
Portsmouth, 47. 63, 79, 211. 

ntion of the fever, 4, 

Princess Anne County. 51. 

Wm. 111. 
Relapse, 32. 

Relief Commit tee of Ports- 
mouth, 55. 159. 
Remedies, 30. 295, 296. 
Removals of the citizens. 157, 

Report of Monument Com- 
mittee, 312. 

Resident Phvsicians of Ports- 
mouth, 231. 248. 

Return of the citizens, 121, 
127. 143. 

Richmond, 176, 186. 

Robertson, I. R., 273. 
rteon, Jos. II., 2G5. 
mi. D.. jr.. 266. 

Roll of Honor. 249. 

Rose, Dr. R. W., 232. 

Sabbaths of the pestilence, 106 
Selden. Dr. II.. 240. 
Silvester, Dr. R. J.. 2 

! \12- 
Bimplrins, Dr. •'. J., 231. 



and o 

3 

Steam I 

! 

Sudd 

Summers, E., 31, 

Symptoms of the 

TayLu-. Walter II.. :■ . 

The bereai 

The birds and the i" stilence, 

196. 
The city at night, 
The citv a 

131. 
The crv from Virginia, 277. 
The! ii. 

The Norfolk and P 

dead. 278. 
The pestilence, 1 . 
The pious dead, 

and it- Victims, 

The yellow fever ii 
York, 306. 

Treatmeni of tfa 
295. 297, 301. 
Tnnstall, Dr. 

Upehui 

i 
« in. 1 L9, 151. 



326 



INDEX. 



Visiting, 118. 

Visiting Physicians. 250. 

Walke. Eev. Louis, 220. 
Walters, B. B., 272. 
Watts, W., 66. 

Weather, 64, 115, 118. 123, 

137. 142. 
Webster, Thos.. jr.. 181. 
Whitehead, N. C, 76. 167. 



Whole family taken, 120, 
141. 

Wills. Rev. D. P., 220. 

Wilson. Dr. Win. M., 231. 

Wilson. Holt, 68. 

Wise, H on. H. A. ; 51. 

Woman's efforts in the pesti- 
lence, 170. 

Woodis, Hunter, 124, 212, 
274, 313, 314. 



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prepared to execute Book and Job Printing and Stereotyping- ^ith 
itch, in eveiy style and variety, and at moderate prices. Particular 
ition given to BOOK WORK, whether Pamphlets or Bound Volumes. 

»ry part of the work, viz : Printing, Binding, &c, done at the same 

iblishment 



I 



